Sirius and the Citadel
by SharkGlue
Summary: It is the Year 750 AS, and the survivors of Mankind's darkest hour is at peace. With the fateful expansion of the Kingdom of Bretonnia towards the newly discovered Tau 30 system, things will change as Humanity encounters a Citadel patrol. Watch as the remnants of Humanity's darkest hour interacts with a newly opened Galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is a story originally posted on the Spacebattles CrW forum. I'm here posting a FFnet version of the story. Thoughts and criticisms are welcome, though expect that the first arc has already been written.

Tau 30 system

The only thing running in General Septimus Oraka's mind right now was that this was supposed to be a standard anti-pirate patrol into what was expected to be a generally quiet area. This system has been the suspected location of a pirate base that has been hitting shipping around the area, and as such, he and the Seventh Fleet arrived fully prepared and ready for a fight.

Instead what they have a situation that, to his knowledge, has never been encountered before in known Citadel space, for right in front of him lay a huge construct of unknown make. It seemed to have arms that stretched on for what looked like kilometers, all of which originated from a ring like superstructure.

"Lieutenant Praxis, what can you tell me about that… thing, in front of us."

Praxis was, despite his training visibly strained as he gave his report. " General, sir, what we are seeing before us is, based on what little we know, an entirely massive alien construct never before seen by anyone from the Citadel."

"So it's not Prothean?"

"No sir, despite the crude resemblance to the Citadel, it doesn't have any trace of eezo, or any of those mysterious alloys relays are made of in it at all. In fact, what we are looking at seems to be a device that while old and certainly mysterious, is not more than a few decades old. Despite the wear and tear on this massive construction, which I suspect is due to the nearby asteroid fields, this thing is generating enormous amounts of energy. Sir, the amounts being generated here are simply unprecedented. I'm no expert, but if we could harness this…"

"We could undergo a technological revolution like when we first harnessed eezo." Oraka replied, a little sternness in his voice." But what if this is a superweapon designed by some race then abandoned for some reason? We could end up triggering some devastating defence mechanism."

"I don't know sir, but if history was any indicator…"

"History also has the Rachni wars Lieutenant. Still you have a point. We will report this to the council, as per our duty, along with all our findings, and then establish a perimeter here to keep it safe and to make sure no one else approaches the device. "

By the Spirits, what he would give for a couple of academics from Thessia or Sur'kesh. They would have had a decent idea of what this is, and more importantly, an idea if it was safe or not.

Still, unless the artefact was to suddenly go active, all he could do right now is to continue scanning the artefact, and then report all their findings. The Council will undoubtedly want to investigate, hopefully with him far far away from it.

* * *

The Citadel

In the depths of the Citadel lays a lounge. In this place, three of the most influential people in Citadel Space meet to freely discuss any events away from prying eyes or any possible disturbances. It was also a place to discuss things without any need for formality. Here, they could be reasonably certain that they could talk without anything recording them.

It was here, that the Citadel Council convened in an informal manner to talk about the most pressing and important of events. Councilor Tevos, having had her customary single Thessian Blue before every meeting to help her loosen up, decided to start with the most immediate concern. The unknown artefact discovered by General Oraka.

"You have all received the reports on the Artefact?"

"Yes. It is quite fascinating," Valern excitedly replied. "No signs of any Element Zero based tech, yet seems to still be active. Suggests completely different technological base. Large power output suggests artefact was a station of sorts. A science station perhaps, with a focus on experiments that would require a high energy output. Perhaps a paired particle accelerator? I digress, artefact of great importance. If we can understand that energy source, we could potentially start a new wave of technological innovation."

"I'm more worried about who built it. Are they a hostile race? Are they still around and if they are, are we dealing with another Rachni event?" Sparatus countered. "We must be cautious, yes we have to investigate it, but I think we must do so very carefully, and with a very well escorted science team. Perhaps keeping the Seventh fleet there would be appropriate."

Tevos could only agree. "I agree with both of you, we shall begin assembling a science and security team along with an appropriate escort for the Science Vessel. Understanding this artefact could advance our technology forward by who knows how much."

* * *

Doctor Aela D'Avo was in the middle of a dig. Right now, in front of her lay what appeared to be the remains of a Prothean container of sorts. It was she imagined were it whole, elegant with the traditional egg like shape that Protheans seemed to favor, but more importantly, what interested her more were the inscriptions on the pot. If she was reading this correctly, she could make out symbols that have never been encountered before! The ones she did recognize were symbols that could correlate to warning or danger. Perhaps the pot once contained something rather flammable or explosive, and therefore required care? A quick capture of the artifact with her Omni-tool would ensure that she would be able to cross reference the symbols with the archives back at the university, to make sure she was onto something.

Xenoarchaeology was backbreaking work, especially in the extreme locations digs tended to be, like the desert that Aela found herself in, but she ultimately thought it was all worth it. If just one of her discoveries could help further contribute to the acquisition of knowledge, then she could die happy.

"Aela!" shouted one of her fellow archaeologists, Cerassa, "You have a call on the CEC! They say they need you at the Citadel, it's urgent!"

"But the excavation!" she exclaimed worriedly. "If we don't finish now, it would be years before we can return, and by then some looter will have pilfered these! I can't leave yet!"

"I know. Look, I tried asking what it was about, but they wouldn't answer any of my questions. Said it was classified."

"Fine," she replied resigned to the demands of the University. "Tell them I'll go as soon as we finish at least excavating these surface artefacts."

"I'm sorry, but they said they need you there immediately."

"What? But why? Why pull me out now in the middle of a possibly groundbreaking dig?"

"Like I said, I have no idea. They wouldn't answer my questions. But, hear me out. They said that the University recommended that you go on this expedition despite what we may lose here."

Aela frowned. She would hate to lose all her work out here in the field, but if the University was recommending that she go to the Citadel despite what may be lost...

Whatever they found must be big. Maybe a beacon was found? A new beacon could advance technology everywhere by centuries or maybe even more!

Still, it was only the prospect of a beacon that made her reluctantly walk to the CEC. Maybe the find would make up for what she would be unable to find here. A beacon would change the Galaxy's situation for... centuries.

* * *

Dari'Tena nar Neema could only stare at what lay before her. There, right in front of her lay perhaps the greatest possible gift she could bring back on her Pilgrimage, some technology so alien, so new that it could potentially win back the homeworld from the Geth. On her omni-tool, pictures of an artefact so large, yet contained no trace of element zero downright fascinated her. This, along with the fact that the energy output the thing generated was Huge. If she could somehow get data from this technology back to the fleet... Keelah. This could maybe end their dependency on Element Zero! Soon, she would be at the station and, Ancestors willing, maybe she will find something that could change the fates of the Quarians...

* * *

Leeds System  
HMS Stirling in orbit at Planet Leeds.

Commander James Perkins was your typical Bretonian Armed Forces (BAF) pilot. He had graduated from the Bretonian Naval Academy on New London, roughly in the middle of his class, and soon after, found himself doing patrols out over New London, effectively becoming a slightly better armed Bobbie. The outbreak of the Dublin revolution and the Mollies though, changed everything. He was reassigned to the HMS Essex to immediately deal with the rebels, and had managed to distinguish himself as an excellent flight leader, managing to become an ace during his tour there thanks to his seemingly instinctive ability to fight in the asteroid fields of the Dublin system.

Now though, he was being reassigned. He was to now assist the HMS Sterling and her battle group's hunt for the Mollies out in the new system that BMM had opened. All in all, he was feeling pretty good about this mission as he prepared to brief his flight.

"Alright ladies and gents! Listen up! Today should be an easy enough run for us. It's a simple patrol towards that new Tau 30 system. High command hopes that with us there, we may be able to find out how the Mollies seem to be able to strike into the LD-14 station. Well if we see those Mollies, we'll give them blighters a right thrashing for what they did to the Hood eh boys? Right. I want you all to suit up! We leave in ten for Stokes where we'll meet up with some boffins with BMM, then we head for the gate. Any questions?"

"No suh!" replied the flight.

"Excellent. Dismissed."

His men proceeded to their Crusaders, a decent heavy fighter in his opinion, just a tad too much liberty with the aesthetics though. The distinct fish like shape provided a large target for enemy pilots, and while she had the firepower and shields to take the hits, he had seen far too many men die to a lot of well placed hits. Say what you will about the Mollies, they were good pilots, and often good shots. The ex-miners had to be to deal with the hazards of the asteroid fields of Dublin.

As he entered the cockpit of his fighter, he proceeded to do last minute checks on everything. It wouldn't do to take off and not have enough nanobots or batteries to deal with any damage the fighter might take. He didn't have to worry about ammunition, aside from his minelayer, he preferred to make generous use of Skyrails and Rippers to take apart his targets. Range often didn't matter in the haze of the asteroid fields, and he imagined it wouldn't be much different in the Tau 30 system.

Satisfied with all his pre-takeoff checks, he proceeded to alert Flight Control. " This is BAF Sigma 01, requesting permission to take off"

"This is control, we are reading launch area clear. You may proceed with take off."

"Roger control. Any Molly activity in the system?"

"None so far Commander. Leeds has been pretty quiet the last few days. Command expects the Mollies are planning something big."

"Roger control. All right flight, form up on me. We'll take the trade lane to Stokes, then to the Tau 30 Jump Gate as planned. " A hail of rogers proceeded to respond, and now Perkins directed his fighter towards the Trade Lane.

"Everything is check, proceeding to perform docking procedures. " Once he had sent in the proper codes to the Trade lane, his ship proceeded to go at speeds it could never perform, even in cruise drive mode. Several million kilometers between Leeds and the asteroid fields were covered in mere minutes. Perkins personally never got tired of the strange ethereal tube the trade lanes seemed to form. It was beautiful in a way.

All good things must come to an end however, and soon, Perkins and his flight reached Stokes Mining Station.

"This is Stokes Mining Station, identify yourselves." Perkins heard from the comms. The controller sounded rather tired and haggard. All things considered, it could've been worse.

"This is BAF Sigma 01, here to meet up with the BMM group towards our flight towards the Tau 30 system. How are you holding up here?"

"Acknowledged Sigma 01. The BMM group is on-board and were about to take off in fact. Everything is fine so far, but most of us are pulling triple shifts to make up for the lack of workers. If the Mollies were to attack us now, I don't know how the Security forces will deal with them. They are well equipped, but I don't know how long they would last without any support from either the Police or you guys."

"Don't worry Stokes, that's why we are here."

"Roger. The BMM group just took off. Everything is clear on our end. Good luck."

Soon another voice entered the Comms. "Hello Sigma Lead, this is Dr. Edward Brent with BMM. My crew aboard my Transport will join you towards Tau 30. From there, we'll begin scouting for a suitable location for a mining station. I trust you'll escort us all the way while we properly survey the system? We may be heavily armored for a transport, but our pilot can't get this giant scarab moving as nimbly as your Crusaders, and our turrets won't do much damage. We'd be sitting ducks for any for any Mollies."

"No worries Doctor. My flight we'll form up on you and make sure nothing untoward happens to you. It's unlikely we'll find anything special in the first day of our survey anyways right?"

"Quite likely. Still, I've several colleagues from different fields to properly survey the system. Who knows what else aside from Gold can be found there? And since the system is connected only to Bretonian space, we may have a good enough claim to keep it in the long run. We shall see what the future awaits us Commander. Let us proceed."

"Right. Sigma flight, form up on the Doctor. We'll escort him and make sure nothing unusual happens today eh?" Perkins jokingly ordered his flight. The Doctor did have a good point. It was highly unlikely they would find the, if any, jumphole on the first day. This initial survey would just help map out the major landmarks of the system. What could they possibly encounter in that time that they couldn't handle?


	2. Chapter 2

Aboard the Silaris Science Vessel  
Tau 30 system

Upon seeing the artefact Aela abandoned her dig for, all she could think was "Goddess that's huge."The… thing was simply massive, seemingly capable of fitting an entire dreadnaught within those arms of theirs. Perhaps this was a hub of sorts, similar to the Citadel? There was simply no way to tell though with just her cursory inspection. Unlike ancient Prothean artefacts like Mass Relays or the Citadel, it didn't have a smoothed, clean aesthetic. This was an artefact designed to be rough and tough and do whatever it was meant to do.

Just what was this artefact for? Who made it? How old is it? What can it do? She could make rough guesses based on appearances alone. It was likely that whoever made this artefact was of a very practical mind. There was a certain roughishness to it that Prothean artefacts didn't have. Furthermore it was tough. There were signs of some damage on the gate itself, likely hits from stray asteroids from the nearby fields. Beyond that though, the team was to find out just what exactly it was.

"The Fleet could certainly learn a thing or two from whoever built this." said a Quarian next to her.

"Pardon?" she asked, with the slightest hint of curiosity.

"Back on the fleet, I was, like many of us, a mechanic and engineer. We had to deal with repairing and keeping ancient ships for a long time. This has been here for who knows how long, but I can tell its tough. Notice the lack of any windows are seemingly any room for crew? This was likely a fully automated station, meant to go on without any assistance whatsoever. Whoever built these things built them to last with little to no maintenance. And unlike the Protheans, I think we can duplicate this one. The scans show that the alloy used in its construction isn't entirely foreign to us. In fact,while we are detecting many very familiar or similar alloys or elements, we haven't detected anything too alien in terms of material or design, except for one thing. This thing has no traces of Element Zero whatsoever."

"None at all? But to build something so massive…"

"They must have been masters of engineering to build something so big and yet so massive without any element zero. I wonder if this is the largest thing they could've built or did they build any bigger? Oh the things we could learn from this alone…"

Aela gave his views some thought. They seemed to make sense..."I think you are onto something there. I'm sorry though, I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Dr. Aela D'Avo, apparent Lead Archaeologist for this expedition. You are?"

"Dari'Teema nar Neema, you can call me Dari. I was recruited into this, surprisingly enough, as a Technological consultant for this expedition. They hope that my experience as a mechanic and programmer will help in deciphering the alien programming. Hope." she said with the slightest hint of sarcasm.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Dari. I look forward to working with you. I'm sure you'll learn something worthwhile to send back to the fleet here." she said encouragingly

"I'm sure we will. I'm more worried about our security though. Knowing those Turians on that small patrol fleet of theirs, if we trigger something on the artefact, they may just destroy it before we figure out what it was about to do." Dari replied, clearly showing her... dislike for the Turians.

"The Turians are more disciplined than that. They will not fire till they show some sort of clear sign of aggression, and at that point, it is better to be alive and wondering what ifs than dead yes?" she replied.

"True. You have to wonder though, did they have to keep the entire Seventh here, along with that Dreadnaught of theirs? Isn't that a little overkill?" she said as she pointed as said ship.

The Gladius was one of the newer Dreadnoughts of the Turian Navy. At 1.3 km long, she was also one of the larger ones. Her crew may be unbloodied, but they were well trained and were led by the General who discovered this in the first place, General Septimus Oraka. Still, next to the… thing it was small in comparison. Easily enveloped by it in fact.

"While unusual, I expect it is to deter any pirates that may stumble upon us. That would be the last thing we would want to happen while we were up close examining the artefact yes?" she said, though she couldn't help but agree with Dari a bit on how unusual it was for a Dreadnought to escort them. Though she did feel that it may be a little bit of caution, just in case they may be dealing with a new Rachni event. Better safe than sorry.

"Yes. Well I better get ready. We are going to approach the artefact for some more detailed scans soon. Then we go and try and find an access point to see the insides of this. It was good to meet you Aela" said Dari.

"Likewise. I best be getting ready as well." Said Aela before she left for her station. Here thanks to the computers in front of her, she could make out all sorts of data the scans will provide. More detailed visuals of the artefact, more data on its energy output and so much more.

"This is your captain speaking, we are now making our approach to the artefact. All personnel, please proceed to your stations and standby for new data." rang the comms of the ship.

Aela was already at her station, so she just patiently waited as her displays showed her ship approaching the artefact. Soon the Silaris was a kilometer away from the arms of the artefact. Now though, her displays were displaying something interesting. The power signatures of the artefact were getting higher. Worryingly so. "Captain T'Loni, the artefact seems to be generating increased energy signatures. Is my display malfunctioning?"

"No Dr.D'Avo, they aren't. We are detecting it as well. It seems to be concentrat-Goddess, look at that!"

A visual feed from outside the ship was now being played on displays across the fleet. The arms of the artefact were now opening and an anomaly , a great vortex of energy, was now seemingly forming in the middle of the ring the artefact formed. As she continued to observe the anomaly, she couldn't help but hear one of the other officers on the bridge report "Captain T'Loni, the anomaly seems to be getting bigger and the Turians are powering up weapons! They are preparing to destroy the artefact!"

"Comms! Get me Oraka now!" said the Captain with as much steel as she could muster.

"Hailing the Gladius ma'am! She's responding! Putting her up on comms now."

"Oraka here. We're powering up weapons now and we expect you to move out of our line of fire soon. What is it that you want Silaris?"

"What I want Oraka, is that you stand down and get those ships of yours to hold their fire!"

"Captain T'Loni, that thing over there is generating incredibly anomalous energy signatures which started when the Silaris started to approach. It's clear to me you've triggered a defence mechanism of some sort, and it looks like it's powering up something big. Now pull back and let us save your ship and likely rest of the fleet here as well."

"Oraka that thing could just be harnessing a natural anomaly we aren't aware of! Stand down!"

"That's not something I'm willing to risk Captain T'Loni, now move out of the way!"

"Oraka, if you destroy that artefact, we'll never likely find something like it ag-"

"Captain! I'm reading signatures coming from the anomaly! It appears to be… a few shuttles and a freighter! Completely unknown make!" interrupted her Sensor officer.

"Oraka! Stand down! We could be dealing with a first contact!"

It was quiet on Oraka's end for a while, but then he responded" I've confirmed reports that there are indeed unknowns coming out of that anomaly. We won't open fire, but the moment that they do something hostile, we're tearing that thing and them down. "

"Thank you general. "replied the T'Loni, relief clear in her voice. "Now, I want-"

"Captain! I'm receiving a message from the shuttles on several wavelengths! Playing now."

"Seo Cheannasaí Perkins de na Fórsaí Armtha na Breataine. Tá tú ar chríoch éileamh ag an Ríocht na Breataine. Cuirimid fáilte roimh tú i síocháin. Tá súil agam i ndáiríre go atá tú ag teacht ar roinnt tae agus nach bhfuil a mharú dúinn go léir."

Silence reigned in the bridge. Everyone was shocked. This… this was first contact, possibly with the species that made this… thing.

Aela though, had come to one conclusion. The Artefact was a… FTL of sorts. It was the only way those ships could have arrived so suddenly.

"Captain." she quietly spoke, yet somehow her voice rang throughout the bridge. " I think… that whoever are in those ships that came out of the anomaly, they built this thing. I also think... that this... gate... is their FTL."

"This… is certainly a most interesting day. Comms, send the first package, I do believe one rotation of the local planet should be enough time for them to decrypt it. We should go into orbit around there and then await them there. "

"What about the General?"

"Inform him that the situation has changed. We are now dealing with a live alien race, and as such, to assume First Contact protocols. We will orbit around the local planet and await them to decrypt the package, and hopefully find enough time for them to communicate, if really primitively with us.

* * *

Despite centuries of Social Tradition of being calm in the face of adversity, there was very little Commander Perkins could do once he saw the small fleet in front of him. in fact, the first words that came out of his mouth were "Bugger."

Still, training took hold soon after. This was an unidentified fleet, and God knew only knew where they came from, they might have even been Coalition ships for crying out loud, he had to let them know that this was Bretonian space.

"This is Commander Perkins of the Bretonian Armed Forces. You are on territory claimed by the Kingdom of Bretonia. We welcome you in the name of peace, but if you come seeking war, then be prepared to face a good thrashing." he announced, in as cool a manner he could, on the comm on all frequencies, just to be sure.

He also immediately switched to his flight's frequency after sending that open message. "Alright ladies and gents, you too Doctor listen up, I want no one to fire till fired upon,if they do, we all hightail it back through the gate and go lock it. We block things off here and inform High Command that we're under attack. Don't wait for all of us to go through, just whoever gets on the other side, go lock the gate. "

Perkins received a round of affirmatives all around, and he mentally prepared himself to possibly die in the service of his King and Country.

The next minute of blissful peace and no energy build up were a very pleasant revelation.

The fact that he received an information package from them too certainly helped calm things down a bit. Still, he was still quite tensed up and ready to unleash hell when he noticed the small fleet move. He at first thought that perhaps they were closing in for better range till he noticed them turn around, and according to his sensors anyway, head to the local planet.

"Thank God." was all he could really say at this point. He and his men weren't dead and they would very likely go on and continue living for now.

"Commander" interrupted the comms, it was Doctor Brent.

"Yes Doctor?"

"I've analyzed the information packet they've sent us… we've just made first contact Commander. This is an alien race, at least based on the image they've sent alone. It also looks like, at least based on the images they're sending on this package, they want to meet us... around the orbit of the planet in this system in about one rotation of it. That's roughly 37 hours Commander. "

Well that certainly complicated things. "Damn." There went this being an uncomplicated mission." So, we've just met a race of aliens with a fleet just parked inside space claimed by Bretonia"

"Essentially, yes , I must add based on what they've sent alone that they are a rather peaceful; bunch, likely explorers. If they were hostile, I don't imagine they would've let us leave alive now, let alone send an information package. "

"Doctor, are you sure they didn't piggybank a virus or something onto that package? Maybe they wanted us to open it so that they can access our Neural net. "

"I don't think so Commander, this is all remarkably basic scientific information, numbers, basic elements, etc. I'm… relatively confident that whatever we've opened, we're capable of handling the consequences. Why, I do believe that me and my team can even come up with a rough translation index given the information they've sent us. I honestly believe that these are a peaceful people."

"Fine Doctor. " sighed Perkins. He was hardly in a position to reverse what the Doctor had done. "Just do be careful and remember to set up proper quarantine protocols. I'll go and report this to High Command. They'll give us further orders and hopefully, they'll have someone better equipped to handle this."

"Right Commander. Good luck." Knowing just how fast the Bureaucracy moved in Bretonia, Perkins honestly believed that he would need it. Perkins then opened up the comms and prepared to talk to Captain Dunbar.

"This is Commander Perkins of Sigma flight to HMS Stirling. We've uh… encountered non-human lifeforms orders."

"Perkins, this is Captain Dunbar, we're rather busy at the moment holding off possibly the largest Molly excursion ever onto the LD-14 plant and from what New London is saying, several simultaneous bombings across Bretonia, so unless those microbes are making conversation with you, I don't exactly see how this necessitates a change in orders."

"Thats just it sir, these aliens ARE talking back. We're talking about a genuine first contact situation. They want us to meet in orbit around the local planet here in approximately 37 hours. What are your orders sir?"

A worrying moment of silence dominated the comms for a minute. For a while, Perkins thought that he had just underwent a Bureaucratic nightmare and would have to wait the next few hours just for a reply, at least until he heard his comm crackle to life.

"Perkins, I'm going to ask you to wait for a while. This situation you handed me is simply far too important for me alone to give you any orders on this situation beyond you holding position and to simply observe the aliens. Expect to hear from me in an hour. I'll try and reach what elements of High Command that aren't actively frothing at the mouth against the Mollies."

"Copy that sir. I'll make sure nothing fishy goes on with the aliens. Perkins out."

The next hour was perhaps one of the more… tense ones Perkins has had in his career. It was an hour of carefully observing the alien ships on his sensors and keeping an eye out on the Doctor's transport, just in case anything malicious was in that information the alien ships did absolutely nothing, save orbit the planet, it was still quite nerve wracking to observe them. The human imagination is a terrible terrible thing to have in a situation like this, and with Perkins' rather active one, he wasn't really enjoying the images it gave him so far. He was incredibly relieved when his own comm sparked to life with a message from Captain Dunbar.

"Perkins, this is perhaps the absolute worst time for this to happen." And there went the relief. " Things are in chaos in High Command what with the bombings the Mollys have pulled off. Many civies are dead back on New London and Leeds and honestly, it'll take far too long for any properly trained diplomat to be sent there." That sent far too many tingles down his spine. The same kind that warned him while flying in Dublin." I've been authorised by His Majesty that, until Lord Barstow can get there, which at best speed is around 48 hours considering that he is coming from a trade meeting on Curacao, you are to act as His Majesty's representative in this most historic occasion. You have been authorized to greet them, encourage talks of non-aggression, peace and cultural exchange, nothing more. The moment Lord Barstow and consequently the Stirling arrives there, you are to report back and brief us on what you manage to learn from them. God Help us all Commander. Good luck and Godspeed."

Well Damn. There went going home for a nice cuppa. Still orders were orders, and all things considered, this was an exceptionally fast response from High Command.

"Alright ladies and gents, we have new orders from His Majesty himself. The Mollies have bombed New London and Leeds and things are quite chaotic now. There is simply no way for a Diplomat to be sent here within the timeframe the aliens have sent us. His Majesty has decided" and here Perkins paused and tried to say the next bit with as much dignity as possible. " to send me instead as the representative of Bretonia. "

"Well bugger us sir." replied Thatcher.

"I personally agree with you Thatch, but orders are orders and there i simply no way to tell if the aliens would react in a hostile manner if we were to not meet them here. " Perkins replied, despite hating his brand new appointment as a representative of His Majesty's government.

"Right lads and ladies, since we've about 36 more hours till the meeting, let's go and do a patrol around the system and do what we came here to do originally, no sense in being unproductive, then we'll have to go and camp out in our ships today till the hour of the meet. Clear?"

A round of clears entered his comm and now Perkin had some more specific orders for the Doctor.

"Alright Doctor Brent, I want you and your team to work on that information packet of theirs at best speed. If you can come up with a translation index, no matter how primitive, it would be great. We've 36 hours till that meeting Doctor, and despite the tradition of Britons going into the unknown with nothing more than a stiff upper lip and his dignity, I'd rather like to have some knowledge of what those aliens are saying."


	3. Chapter 3

Tau 30 System  
Right outside the Silaris

This was it. This was the moment absolutely anything could cause things to simply go tits up. This was where things got real, and Perkins would be jumping from the frying pan, and into the fire. Here he was staring at the open port of the graceful ship. It kind of gave him thoughts of a much more refined Battleship, all chrome and silver, but he didn't doubt that it was deadly at all.

"Alright gents, remember the plan. Thatcher, I'll go first and then you. The Doctor says that he figured out that we breath the same stuff, so removing your helmet would be theoretically fine, but don't unless you have to. No telling if there are any diseases there we might catch. Do depolarize the faceplate though. It wouldn't do to see their faces while they cannot see ours."

"Roger that sir, though i do still think we are buggered."

"Noted Thatch, now initiating docking procedures into the ship. God help us all."

As Perkins slowly entered the massive ship, he couldn't help but notice that the insides are as smooth and refined as the outside. The bloody aliens have got to be rather posh, but how that translated to something relevant, Perkins wasn't quite too sure.

Still as he entered the Docking bay proper, he noticed that a few particular areas were completely empty. In fact, there were a string of lights leading to them. He guessed the aliens wanted him to land there, and so he directed his ship ever so slowly there.

Carefully, he gently led his ship there and when he was content with it's positioning, he triggered the ship's repulsor landing gear. A perfect landing. Not bad, considering the totally unfamiliarity he had with this area.

Soon enough, Thatcher went in and landed right next to Perkins, and as he looked into Thatch's cockpit, he gave a nod, and they both began to disembark, with Perkins' taking note to not carry any weapons, that was Thatch's job.

As one, they approached the blue figures in the distance.

He most certainly didn't expect to see a rather human like face there, let alone one that creepily enough, reminded him of his sister. The aliens he encountered were, in his mind, were a race of blue skinned highly beautiful women.

He just knew something was going to go wrong.

Still, there was no helping it. Best to start up the program the Doc gave and try and greet them.

"Hi. Me James Perkins of Bretonia. Me greet you. We Human. You?"

* * *

_Most certainly not a bad attempt at Thessian. Thought Dala T'Loni, now for their attempt at the…what she guessed was the Human language._

"I Dala T'Loni. We Asari. Hi,"

* * *

Well, it looked like the Doctor's package worked. Thank God for small miracles. Time for the harder part though…

"This Bretonia space. Why you here?"

The alien's face, while beautiful, scrunched up in confusion. Maybe something was lost in the translation?

"Doc… You are watching this right? "

"Yes Commander, though I must say, I have very little to work on. I need them to talk or longer periods."

"Damn it Doctor! I need clarity as soon as possible.!"

"I'll do my best."

"Fine."

The … Asari woman took that moment to answer.

"We explorers. We seek understanding. You build… station?"

Station? There weren't any stations here… unless she meant the gate.

"Gate human yes. Why?"

A little gleam in those eyes that reminded him of his sister getting something she wanted was tickling certain instincts in him. He wasn't quite sure what it was. Seeing as they aliens suddenly were chatting amongst themselves, excitement, or what he guessed it to be, clear in their eyes, he figured they found what they were looking for.

"Happy! We seek welcome you to Citadel community. Come! There much-"

A klaxon begun to ring around the ship. Goddamn it. What the heck has happened now?

* * *

Aboard the Gladius  
Tau 30 system

"Report!" demanded General Oraka, angry because he was right damn it. The aliens had planned something, and now something was coming from that asteroid field.

"Probes are detecting 10 contacts moving fast, within the area of that 'glitched' probe. They are heading straight for the Silaris!"

"Get me Captain T'Loni!"

"Aye sir! Putting her up now."

"General! What is going on? My bridge crew sounded a red alert!" Captain T'Loni quickly responded.

"We're detecting multiple inbounds heading your way. It's obvious those aliens tried to trick you, now pull back and let the frigates do their work!"

"That's impossible! I was talking with what looked to be their leader a few minutes ago! Look Oraka, stand down! It might just be asteroids or some debris."

"Not with the sensor readings I'm getting, they are most certainly telling me that they are generating power levels similar to that of those fighter/shuttles the aliens came in on, now move away!"

"No General! I will not! " and she cut the connection.

"Damn it T'Loni! Tell the Hoplon and the Scipio to go and put themselves between the Silaris and that field. Their GARDIAN batteries should easily handle those contacts. Meanwhile, I want the rest of the fleet moving to that position."

"Aye sir, relaying orders"

The aliens wanted a fight, then by the Spirits, they'll get a fight.

* * *

"Greene… what's going on? Did any of you daft buggers fire upon them?" Perkins asked as he quickly tapped into his comms.

"No suh! I'm detecting contacts coming from that field… My guess is that that's where the jumphole is. They may be coming in ready for a fight!"

"Damn." Perkins replied. Nothing good could come out of this. "Right, Greene, you are in command of the flight, me and Thatch will try and explain that that is not us! You are not to fire upon the alien ships even if they fire back! We've no chance of denting them anyway, so fight those bloody Mollies off and show we have nothing to do with them! Give em hell Lieutenant!"

"Roger sir!"

Time to now go and explain things to the ladies. God he hoped they would be understanding of the situation at hand. He went and approached the woman who talked to him before, she had just finished talking into what looked like a holographic device on her wrist.

"Right. We Bretonian. We Want Peace. Field, not us." he desperately tried to talk to them.

""Then who?" she asked back a little desperation in her voice

UGH! There weren't enough words they knew to talk back properly!

"No have words! Not us! Please believe!" he tried desperately.

"Commander… the aliens are firing laser batteries at us, our shields can still take quite a bit, but they are bloody accurate. If those Mollies were to iht us along with those lasers, I don't think we can't win."

Damn it! He needed to be out there not trying to talk pidgin with this woman!

"Commander! The bloody Mollies are here and man do they look rather angry! They're concentrating on the Frigates and by God, are they doing far more damage than I thought they would. We're trying to get them to back off, but damn it, these Laser batteries of the Aliens aren't making things easy!"

"Damn." This was it. This was where his actions would determine the lives of many, possibly thousands. Perkins really wished he wasn't here right now, there was just one option left, and he wasn't even sure if it'll work. "

Thatch, give me your gun, then go straight for your fighter. "

"but sir-"

"No buts Lieutenant. That's an order."

Thatch hesitantly approached Perkins, then, slowly handed him his gun. "Good luck sir. I bloody well hope you know what you are doing."

"Same here Thatch. Now go give them hell. "

As Thatch ran for his fighter, Perkins walked up to the woman, Dala, and looked straight into her azure eyes, a hint of what looked like worry in them.

"Right. I know, you no understand all words. So I ask trust." he said as he slowly and carefully raised the gun. He could see the other women behind her raise their own weapons towards him, but he tried to block them from his mind. It wouldn't do to panic right here and now, he instead tried focusing on the eyes of the woman in front of him, their pupils widening in what he hoped was shock. " I trust you. We no wish harm. They not us. " he said as he gently grabbed her right hand and placed the gun there. He then guided Thatch's pistol towards his head and positioned her finger over the trigger.

"I give you life for friends." he told her, as he watched those eyes water with worry and indecision.

He really really hoped he did the right goddamn thing, otherwise, his flight would likely die out there, and he would be one dead body in an alien ship.

"I trust.' she said quietly, handing him the gun while doing so. "Now leave. Me do what I can help."

Perkins could only sigh with relief as he made a run for his ship. Thank God for small miracles. Now to pray to God for bigger ones…

* * *

Onboard the Gladius  
Tau 30 system

"What do you mean they aren't dead yet?!" snapped General Oraka, disbelief clear in his voice.  
"Those GARDIAN batteries should have finished them off by now!"

"I don't know sir!" reported, Lieutenant Xalax, the stress clear in his voice.

"Calm down Lieutenant" pressed Oraka, "We aren't dead yet."

Xalax breathed in, taking in the General's stern and firm voice "Yes sir."

"Good. Now, can someone give me an idea of why they aren't dead yet?'

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" replied Lieutenant Praxis

"Go ahead Lieutenant." said Oraka, nodding his head in approval toward the Lieutenant.

"Sir,I've noticed that our GARDIAN batteries aren't registering any misses. In fact, they all seem to be registering hits on designated targets."

"You mean to tell me, that those little fighters have shielding that can block directed energy attacks?!" snapped Oraka, his mandibles visibly twitching.

"Yes sir."

"Can they be worn down?'

" In theory, yes sir. I mean our own barriers eventually-"

"Then I want you to relay this to the rest of the fleet, reprogram those batteries to concentrate fire on one fighter than to move onto the next. Spirits willing, that will wear down their barriers, enough." said Oraka, pointing his talon at Praxis.

"Yes sir," said Praxis, his voice remaining cool and collected, "but it'll take some time for us to do so."

"Time is something we don't have!" snapped Oraka "Those little fighters could open fire at any minute now, so program at best speed. Lives are depending on this. "

"Aye sir."

As the young Lieutenant Praxis relayed his orders to the fleet, Oraka still felt that things would go his way. Yes, those barriers of theirs meant that they'll now take some damage, but surely it wasn't anything their barriers couldn't handle?

"Sir! The contacts from the field are moving to attack the Hoplon!"

"Tell the Hoplon and the Scipio to put themselves between the enemy contacts and the Silaris. We can't let those damn stubborn fools there die." his irritation at Captain T'Loni clear in his voice.

"Aye sir. Relaying Orders. Asteroid Contacts have left the field and are approaching the Hoplon in a wedge. Detecting energy spike coming from the Asteroid Contacts- what the- I'm reading some sort of high-energy pulses coming from the fighters! Hoplon reports severe damage to port engines. They're dead in the water!"

"How?" shouted Oraka, disbelief strong in his voice. "What happened? Are you telling me that these fighters have some sort of… directed energy weapon?

"Sir our sensors can't identify just what those fighters are firing! All we can tell is that its definitely some sort of energy "

"Spirits...' Oraka said bitterly, from a slightly more difficult battle to one where he would probably win at tremendous cost…

He knew he should've just blown up that spirits damned Artifact.

"General!" reported Lieutenant Galarn, joy clear in his voice, "the three contacts that were left outside the Silaris have gone and moved to engage the Asteroid Contacts."

"I want video of the three Alien contacts now!" Oraka demanded quickly.

"Relaying video feeds from both the Hoplon and the Scipio." replied Galarn, his optimism still clear in his voice." Video feed established."

And indeed, on screen, Oraka could see that the Aliens were opening fire on the ones coming from the Asteroid field. Perhaps-

"General! The Silaris is hailing us! Captain T'Loni wants to talk!"

"Put her up then!" snapped Oraka. That woman better have something to add to this situation...

"General! By the Goddess stop firing at the aliens we made first contact with!" T'Loni pleaded desperately, her face showing clear signs of desperation. " Their leader put his life in my hands for a while and I swear, that they aren't attacking us! Just watch the battle for evidence!"

Sure enough, as Oraka took a closer look at the footage they were receiving, he began to be convinced that the Aliens were… for the most part on their side.

In fact, the more he looked at the footage, the more he took note of some other things. Like how, despite the fact that the Hoplon and Scipio were wide open to attack, the Asteroid contacts didn't even bother to attack them once they noticed the Alien contacts. In fact, the more he watched their dogfight, the more he realized that the Asteroid contacts were flying very aggressively, taking risks in their manoeuvres that no clear thinking pilot would have performed, and yet just minutes ago, these same fighters were performing a well-coordinated attack on the Hoplon.

By the Spirits of Palaven, just what have they just walked into?

" Captain T'Loni is right!" he said as he ordered Lieutenant Praxis " Temporarily designate those Aliens as friendlies, concentrate GARDIAN batteries on one fighter at a time. I want the entire fleet moving to their position at flank speed!"

"Aye sir! Relaying orders!"

Spirits, he hoped things wouldn't get worse.

* * *

Right Outside the Silaris  
Tau 30 system

Things had nearly gone completely tits up. The Mollies have done and interrupted the talks and only after a frighteningly close encounter with Thatch's pistol was he able to get the Aliens to stop shooting at his lads and ladies.

That still left him 10 Mollies to deal with, and from the looks of it, they were fresh out of Aranmore… and rather ready to die for the cause.

"Right lads! Form up! Thatch, give me a status report!"

"Well sir, me and the rest of the lads have been having this wonderfully sunny stroll under these laser batteries-" Thatch crackled on the radio.

"Who are giving us this wonderfully pleasant suntan. We're talking nob quality here Commander! We all really wished we could give one back. Suh" exclaimed White with just a little bit of irritation.

"All of this while you were in there, chatting up that wonderfully charming woman. Then, suddenly, all these batteries decided to go and give our Molly friends the suntan instead eh? Bout bloody time those Miners had something right go their way? Anywho, the rest of us are still pleasantly tanned after that, while the Good Doctor has gone to wait at the gate, just in case.

"I should punch the lot of you for that. Luckily I deserve that, so onwards and upwards lads! ' He said as he began to lead his wedge of fighters forward.

"Right lads, Me and Thatch will lead a couple of em close to those batteries, the rest of you, peel off, hide under the frigate to the port side of the one me and Thatch landed on, then when we emerge on the other side of the ships, I want you to give the buggers we're chasing merry hell. No mines! They might go and attach themselves to our alien friends, and we wouldn't want that now would we?" Perkins replied confidently, a cheeky smile forming on his face.

"Roger that sir! Moving to position!" replied his flight, eager to finally do something.

Now for the tough bit. Here, he was going to try and pull off a reverse Hood on them. He put his engine to maximum speed, and did a straight run at one of the Mollies, his sensors showing they managed to nick away most of his shields.

"Well that got their attention, " said Thatch as he formed up beside Perkins. "I think we got them quite angry sir."

"No kidding Thatch. You still have a full load of bots and batteries?" Perkins asked, it never hurt to be to double check the essentials, especially something as lifesaving as nanobots or shield batteries.  
"Yes sir." Thatch eagerly replied..

"Good. God knows we'll need it. One more direct run, see if we can nick away more of their shielding, then run for the designated ship. As soon as we get above it, thrusters to the max."

"Got it sir. Godspeed to you." replied Thatch, his voice practically brimming with confidence.

"Our Lady of blessed acceleration, don't fail me now…" Perkins muttered to himself. This was a flight that would put his skills to the limit, and by God would he need as much speed as possible.

This was it, one more run, then hit it all the way back. Perkins made sure to make his shots as accurate as possible, nicking as many of the buggers shields, but there were too many and they were all starting to angrily concentrate fire on either him or Thatch.

"Now Thatch! Run for the frigate!" Perkins ordered, clearly putting his weight into his voice.

"Way ahead of you sir!" said Thatch as he made a beeline for the frigate he mentioned.

"Right, the rest of you lot better be under there! We're coming in hot!" Perkins shouted into the comms.

"We're ready sir, just pass over and we'll do the rest!" replied White, confident and eager for action. A little part of him wanted to switch places with White, but he shoved that aside. He and Thatch were here for a reason, and that was they were the best bloody pilots in the flight.

Perkins was getting really worried now. A good three of the 10 Mollies were locked onto him, and were depleting his shields at dangerously fast levels. The only reason why he and Thatch were able to survive so long in the first place was because the Mollies were running comparatively ramshackle Bloodhounds and Wolfhounds. His Crusader, while clumsy compared to some border world or even other military fighters, was significantly better engineered than those hunks they call ships.

'There goes the shield, deploying batteries!" he shouted into the comm as he let the disposable supercharged capacitors fuel the shield array once more. Just a thousand more meters, and he'll make it to the Frigate where hopefully those laser batteries will do some good.

"They nicked my port wing sir! I've lost half my armaments!" declared Thatch, a little bit of panic in his voice.

"Hold on Thatch! You still have some bots and batteries! Just a bit longer!" Perkins cried out into the comms, worry very much breaking his normally rather calm and collected voice.

"Doing my best sir. These buggers are damned good shots!" Thatch replied, panic creeping into his voice.

Damn it, Perkins hasn't lost a man yet, and he'll be damned if he'll let Thatch be his first loss.

"Damn it" shouted Perkins to himself. "Thatch, enter cruise and dock with the ship we did so earlier. I'll cover you."

"But sir-"

"Goddamn it Thatch!" screamed Perkins" That's a goddamn order you better follow! I'll be damned if I lose a man under my command that isn't me. I'll buy you some time then finish the plan. Now go!" Perkins ordered, putting as much firmness as he could into this command.

As Thatch's Cruise Engines activated, he left one brief message, regret strong in his voice. "Give 'em hell sir."

"Thatch, I do expect you and the lads to pay for drinks back on the bar after all this." Perkins replied, his voice grim and heavy with the very real possibility that he'll die.

"Of Course sir." said Thatch, more of the regret showing in his voice.

Goddamn it. This was supposed to be a simple mission! This was supposed to be a mission where he would have some form of preparation but noooo. Bloody first contact happened and now things were absolutely going tits up.

"Okay Perkins." he muttered to himself " You've survived these bloody miners before. You've just got to strike fast and then gun it back to the bloody ship. " he said, trying to convince himself that for once in this mission, things will go according to plan, which as far as he was concerned in this situation, was to come out alive.

He launched his full arsenal of particle cannons at one of the Molly ships, this time, actually managing to do some severe damage, and then he pulled back towards the frigate, trying as much as possible to make it hard for the Mollies to get a lock on him.

900 meters to the bloody thing, and his shields get dangerously low

500 meters and he loses his shields, he manages to recharge them, but they were his last batteries.

100 meters, his shields go, and he's down to his nanorepairbots. Luckily the alien batteries start to pick the Mollies off a bit, his scanner now reading 8 instead of 10.

Halfway across the ship, and the Mollies are down to a very manageable 6 , his nanobots still finding the damage he was taking quite manageable.

As Perkins screamed right across the frigate, he could hear his flight's shouts of glee on the comms at him having made it, he couldn't help but wonder just what kind of luck he possessed.

"Damn sir! You made it! We manage to nail another three as they went over us. The rest of them seem to be making for the jumphole again. Should we engage?" White replied, his voice clear with both a desire for vengeance and at the same time, a little bit of tiredness.

"No Lieutenant White. Stand down." ordered Perkins, his voice a little distant. He still had trouble believing he was alive." We'll rest and wait here for the Stirling to come. Goddamn do I wish Lord Barstow would get here soon. "

"Well, sir, at the very least we made sure the aliens don't see us as a threat." White exclaimed rather confidently.

"I'm not too sure about that Lieutenant. I'm not too sure about that at all…" said Perkins as he stared into the damaged Frigate, its port engines clearly on fire…


	4. Chapter 4

Aboard the Silaris  
Tau 30 system

Captain Dala T'Loni was, to put it mildly, quite distressed. First there was the first contact, and then there was the battle and the rather severe damage to the Hoplon, and now another first contact with a race that came from the Asteroid fields. Fortunately, or Unfortunately, it all depended on your point of view Dala guessed, one of them had managed to get to some kind of escape pod, and was now waiting aboard one of the airlocks of the Silaris. She was now headed there to hopefully learn if any further conflict could be avoided.

"So Dr. D'Avo, you think that these two groups of aliens have a history?"

"I believe so Captain. Based on what some of the Turian veterans who watched the battle told me, it was if these pilots flew a lot more aggressively and recklessly against the aliens we first met. I do believe they have a… history. If I may give an analogy, rather much like the Krogans and the Turians"

"Goddess…" exclaimed Dala. "We may have walked into the middle of a war we are entirely unprepared to fight."

"Then we must get them to understand that we want no part of it! "Shouted Dr. D'Avo.

"It won't be so easy…" Dala patiently explained "First, the alien commander will be here, we need him to communicate to the other alien that they want no part of their war. We only want peace. I imagine he'll have his own personal history with these aliens. I just do hope it won't be too bad…" she said as she entered the docking bay and waited for the leader to return.

Sure enough, there was the leader, his face visible behind the visor of his helmet, probably depolarized for the purposes of this conversation, walking towards them, alongside the same teammate as earlier. He seemed, despite the battle that occurred outside, confident and completely in control.

Goddess, she really didn't want to fight these people if they could remain that collected after a battle that tense.

"We talk now. Have new one. You speak him?" Dala asked, trying to sound as friendly and non-forceful as possible.

"You have friend? But all friend me?" the leader asked, a little bit of confusion in his voice. Not that it didn't elicit a bit of confusion in Dala as well.

"Again? No clear." Dala asked, trying to sound as confused as possible.

The leader thought it out a bit, his eyebrows scrunched in what Dala guessed in thought, probably trying to think of a way to explain the situation

"Me," he pointed to himself, "friend" he pointed to his guard, " other friends" he pointed towards the docking bay doors now, " that all. No more friend here."

Ah, that cleared things up a bit. "We have not friend. You speak his words. You speak him, tell we no fight."

The leaders' eyes widened, as if realizing what was going on. He chatted rather animatedly with his counterpart, too fast for her to follow. Then, he quickly stared at her with that unnervingly calm face of his.

"You have Molly." he said the word at the end with quite a bit of… anger in it? "We talk, and then take. He bad. "he commanded.

"Why?" Dala asked genuine curiosity in her voice. What could have these second aliens done to elicit emotion like anger out of what seemed to be an incredibly stoic race?

"Kill many people. Friends, dead. Molly did." the leader said, a little sorrow in his voice. He's lost comrades to them then, but there has to be more to it. Oh what she would give for the linguists to get a better program much faster!

"Talk yes. Take no. Need him say no want war to Molly." Dala said, trying to emphasize the no want war part.

"No need." the alien said, waving his hands, dismissively? "Bretonnia win soon. Molly run."

That was encouraging. They were making First contact with a race that has been waging war for a while now, but were winning. Perhaps after all this time all they would seek would be peace?

"Decide later. You talk now with Molly yes?' said Dala, trying to buy herself some time to figure out a reason why to keep the alien on-board, and then peacefully release him to his people.

"Yes." the leader replied, although Dala couldn't help but notice a bit of… frustration in his voice.

"Good. Follow. Lead to Molly." said Dala as she led them deeper into the cargo bay where the "Molly" was kept. Goddess, at least things couldn't get any more complicated.

* * *

The Silaris Cargo bay  
Tau 30 system

from a dashingly successful combat, Perkins found himself walking back into what could barely be called negotiations. The Aliens here had managed to find a Molly survivor and they apparently want no part of the rebellion, and they want him to talk to the bugger and convey to them that message.

At least, he thinks that's what's going on.

"I don't like this sir, we're walking deeper into the ship and away from our ships, and all I have on me is my pistol, which I doubt will do us any good." Thatch said a little worry in his voice.

"Thatch, I think we've pretty clearly established ourselves as not wanting to fight them with our rather elaborate display of piloting out there. " said Perkins, waving his hand as if to remove the thought, "I'm more worried that they caught a Molly". He rather hoped they had the common sense to disarm the man.

Soon enough, their guide brought them to a holding chamber and there, Perkins could see through the chamber's window, was the Molly bugger, his helmet still on and polarized. He couldn't blame him really, he would've done the same if he was suddenly aboard an unknown ship, let alone one crewed by unknown aliens.

"Here is Molly." said the guide, pointing at the man, "talk him, and tell want peace. "She said in a tone that Perkins figured was pleading.

"No need. Bretonnia win." Perkins replied. It was after all true, while the Mollies were admittedly talented miners and quite numerous, they are no match for His Majesty's armed forces. They just needed to narrow down their location and then they will promptly be captured like the dogs they are.  
"Will talk. Learn from him must. Tell your peace."

"Yes. Thanks." said the woman, a mix of both sorrow and hope in her voice. He couldn't quite guess where the sorrow came from though.

"Well this is bound to be an interesting chat sir." exclaimed Thatch, a little more snark in his voice.

"With a Molly Thatch, it'll always be interesting." said Perkins as he entered the room and got his first glimpse of the man he would be talking to for a while.

* * *

"Captain" messaged Dr. Aela D'Avo, on Dala's comm"we've hit a breakthrough in the alien language. It's maddeningly both complex and simple at the same time, often rather contradictory as well. However, we on the linguistics team believe that we've manage to crack it, and we should be at a more fluent level of translation now." she exclaimed rather excitedly and Dala couldn't blame her. To be able to figure out an alien language so soon… it must be one that is rather fluid to be deciphered so quickly.

"Excellent! We can listen in on the leader's talks with the alien and then we can properly communicate after!" exclaimed Dala. Finally some progress after that incredibly tragedy that was the battle.

"Indeed Captain! I look forward to learning more about the aliens! We will continue to listen in and hopefully correct any mistakes the translator may have made."

"Good Work Doctor D'Avo. We will continue this later after my own talks." messaged Dala as she now carefully watched the alien walk into the room.

* * *

The leader started the… conversation with The Molly, casually grabbing a chair and sitting on it while his teammate started leaning against the wall. Here she had a moment to observe the two different species. The leader was wearing his jumpsuit, with red dominant throughout it, with the occasional flecks of blue and gold, and was, despite the battle outside, rather neat and well kept. The other alien though… his jumpsuit was dirty and ramshackle and if she didn't know any better, could've sworn that the dirty brown-grey thing would fall apart if the man attempted to wash it.

"I'm Commander James Perkins of His Majesty's BAF, but I'm sure you knew that bit lad." the alien, Perkins said, his voice remaining rather calm and Dala guessed stoic. "And this man to my right," he pointed to the teammate, " Is Lieutenant Thaddeus Thatcher, and he's here to make sure you don't do any of your dastardly Molly tricks here old boy. "

" You can go rot in hell you mac soith!" the Molly said, removing his helmet as if to toss it, and-

Dala gasped. "By the Goddess!" Though Dala was no xenobiologist, she was quite confident in stating that the two were the same species! It was quite likely that they have just walked into the middle of a civil war.

Still, she drove those thoughts from her mind. She could speculate later. Now was the time to observe and learn more of the situation. She quickly took note of what looked like had happened while she had lost precious few seconds on speculation.

The helmet had missed completely and had hit the wall. Meanwhile, the man, Thatch, had stood upright but the leader, Perkins had his hand raised.

"Now now Thatch," Perkins exclaimed, his voice still calm despite what happened, "don't overreact. This man merely acted as an uncultured man would. Something I would expect given that this bloke was just a miner."

Miners? Those pilots who performed a precision attack on the Hoplon were miners? Goddess, she hoped that she would never face the real true pilots of this race.

"I may just be a miner, but I fight for a just and true cause you basterds!" the Molly, shouted, clearly cursing the men in front of him. "The Dublin system will be free from Bretonnian tyranny!"

"Lad," Perkins replied, in a disapproving voice, as if he was educating the man in front of him, "The crown needs that gold. Yes Graves pushed you lot hard, but these are times when the crown needs funds! Rhineland is in economic shambles and we have an opportunity to take advantage of it! We need only the funds that Dublin gold can provide!"

"If you want our gold, you can take it from our cold dead hands! Graves worked us to the bone and dozens of us died under his command! Not one little bit of safety equipment was given to us and you expected us to get you more gold under harsher deadlines with bigger quotas!?" the man wildly shouted, his hands waving about.

A miners rebellion? This was a civil war between miners and the government?

"Look lad, if you lot simply stopped at overthrowing and killing Graves, the King would've granted you leniency… but after what you did to the Hood…"

"The Hood deserved what it got, like all you scum! We'll do whatever it takes to free Dublin!"

"Including those attacks you made on New London and Leeds?' Perkins exclaimed, real anger leaking into his voice, "Including the bombings on innocent men, women and children!?"

"Whatever it takes. Freedom at any cost from you lot!" roared the man and he jumped right at them with a small object that Dala hadn't noticed before and Dala panicked for a moment and was about to call for security until the man Thatch, quick as a snap, downed the man with his pistol.

Goddess, were they a rather violent people. Thatch's pistol seemed to have left a rather large hole where the man's chest was.

"Thanks Thatch. Bugger certainly deserved that, though I do wish you didn't make such a mess out of him." calmly said Perkins as he stood up, and dusted off his jumpsuit.

"Sorry sir." said Thatch as he calmly put his pistol back into its holster.

"No problem Thatch. Let's go back to our lady friends and see if we can continue our talks." said Perkins as he left the room.

* * *

Goddess, this is going to be one difficult set of negotiations. She had to play dumb for now; this was a card she could most certainly keep close to her.

"Hello" the man said, still in broken Asari." Molly dead. Tried kill" he made a line across his throat with his finger, as if… slitting a throat? "Sorry."

"Sad I am." Dala said. IT was true. Despite his attempt to kill Perkins, life was something precious. "But understand. Leave now. Go to not sad place. Room for words yes?"

"Yes. Follow" said the man, Perkins.

As Dala walked along towards the conference room, she messaged Dr. D'Avo with some very important instructions. This would be critical to making sure the negotiations went smoothly.


	5. Chapter 5

Silaris Conference Room  
Tau 30 System

Perkins was a little miffed at this point. He was simply trying to be a little reasonable with the man but then he had to go and die for his "cause". Still, the aliens didn't seem miffed at him at all. They had in fact led him and Thatch to this rather posh looking conference room.

"I'm still not liking this sir," said Thatch, his voice full of wariness.

"I know Thatch," Perkins replied, his voice carefully neutral. "But it looks like things are looking up. We're one less Molly and look at how animatedly our intrepid guide is talking with that other one."  
Indeed the leader was excitedly chatting with another one of the blue ladies. Then they brought up those glowing arm things of theirs, which Perkins was beginning to suspect was some sort of mobile computer. The guide then smiled and approached Perkins.

"Greetings" she excitedly greeted in slightly accented English "Our experts have managed to better translate your language now."

"Excellent! No more of this pidgin speak then." Perkins excitedly exclaimed. No more of this clumsy mucking about then. "Let us properly introduce ourselves then, I am Commander James Perkins of His Majesty's Bretonian Armed Forces, attached to the HMS Stirling, and this intrepid man to my right is Lieutenant Thaddeus Thatch. We greet you on behalf of our King Alexander and the Kingdom of Bretonnia, and we hope that we can walk together towards peace."

"I am Captain Dala T'Loni, Captain of this Science ship Silaris and the Asari Republics. We are the Asari, and we welcome you to the greater galactic community."

"Galactic Community?" asked Perkins with curiosity, "Does that mean there are more aliens then?"

"Indeed there are Commander. Aside from the Asari, there are the Turians, who command many of the ships surrounding us, the Salarians, Volus, Elcor, Hanar and quite a few more species. I imagine they shall all welcome Bretonnian kind with open arms."

A little laugh came from Perkins, not mocking, but light and good natured. "I'm afraid we may have misunderstood each other there Captain," he said, his face keeping a cheeky little grin on "me and Thatch here are humans. That is the name of our species. We are from the nation of Bretonnia."

"Ah apologies then," understandable, this was a new species and there were many things to learn from them, especially their culture,' though I must wonder why there is such a distinction. Surely most of your kind are unified under one government?"

An awkward silence permeated the room then. Perhaps she had touched upon a taboo subject? Or did she tip her hand too much and reveal that they knew of the real reason the Mollies rebelled?

"You see Captain T'Loni," Perkins began, a little unsure of himself, "we Bretonnians are colonists. We, along with three other nations, control this region of space known to us as the Sirius systems. "

"Three other major nations? Each with their own military, laws and customs and so forth? And all of you are colonists?" she asked rather disbelievingly. The Asari operated on similar measures, every planet was a republic in itself, but the Republics were always unified together in spirit. For four major nations with their own systems, laws and customs that aren't unified...

"Indeed. Even different governing systems. Every one of them independent from each other." he said, a little more confidently now. "There is Liberty, a highly representative democracy, and most powerful of the Sirius houses, Kusari, a constitutional monarchy much like Bretonnia, and finally Rhineland, a newly minted federal republic. "

"Then where did you originally come from?" she asked. If these were the colonists… then what of the mother planet? Did they flee due to some natural catastrophe? Or perhaps they were granted their independence?

"All I know for sure is that we fled from a war we were losing over 750 years ago back in the Sol System. No one knows what has changed there or even if anyone is still around. for all we know,we may be all thats left of humanity. we haven't heard from them since." he said rather neutrally. Clearly the home planet was no longer an issue for many of them.

Goddess… just what kind of a species did they encounter? Why would they give up their homeworld? Was it a war of genocide? A war over natural resources? Why would they so readily abandon their homeworld, the very origin of their species? While the Turians may have had their wars of Unification, the Turians never denied that Palaven was home, and even the nomadic Quarians were hell bent on retaking Rannoch. Why would these people not care about their original planet?

"And what of the Mollies? Why are you fighting them?" she asked, she genuinely wanted to know their side of the story while trying to direct the conversation away from something like that. She'd rather hear something like that from a Diplomat, not some Flight leader.

"A few months back, onboard the Bretonnia Mining and Manufacturing station in the Dublin system, the station's commander, one Lord Edmund Graves, along with his lieutenants, were brutally murdered in a miners uprising after Graves drove the miners there over the brink by demanding more in less time." he replied. "That man if you asked me, certainly deserved it." he said, genuine anger in his voice. "That man was a tyrant, a bloody fool, who demanded inhuman amounts of work from the miners under his control. Hundreds of deaths that could have completely been avoided happened because of his decisions. " he sighed, then as if his voice became full of regret, "Then while things were relatively peaceful, the more peaceable miners went and left the system. No harm came to them as they left. We all understood what they went through."his voice full of sympathy "It was the more militant ones we were worried about." his voice suddenly becoming more serious.

"They completely took over the Mining station and the remaining mining vessels and demanded the complete independence of the Dublin system. Now the government was forced to intervene, better conditions were one thing, independence was another. We sent in the HMS Hood in to try and pacify the situation, hopefully scaring the miners back to their senses. We were wrong."

"The Hood went in towards the Mining station, and the Mollies waited for it. We thought that they had realized just what they had done, and were peaceably letting us go in and restore order to the system. Many of us felt that things most certainly needed to change, in light of what we learned Graves was doing there."

"Then the mines hit. They were quite cunning, I'll give them that. They had cleverly hid explosives in several of the asteroids nearby and detonated them near her engines, which triggered a series of explosions that seriously destabilized the ship. The Hood was taken out, and the miners made good with their escape deeper into the system."

"Ever since then, the Mollies have gone and conducted terrorist attacks, ranging from bombings of goddamn nurseries all for keeping BMM kids, to murders of BMM executives. We work our very best to hunt them down and drive them out before they kill any more innocents." he said, letting the innocent bit hang in the air for a bit.

"I'm sorry that you had to hear that. I can see that the tale of the Mollies is one that has upset you," and while Dala was showing an upset face, The Mollies in her opinion were a sympathetic cause with unjustifiable means, they were no worse than say an Eclipse band of mercs. "I'm sure I have not given you a rather pleasant image of humanity, but I assure you, that this isn't an accurate picture of us. Think of the Mollies as the exception, rather than the rule to what we humans can do. As one of the old Earth, our homeworld, writers once said, "We have infinite capacity for both great good and great evil", you've seen the evil, I can assure you madam, from here on, you can only see the great good that man is capable of doing." he said, enthusiasm clear in his voice.

Goddess she hoped things could only go up from here. She'd rather not see if they would be like a more intelligent Krogan

* * *

"This is a beautiful ship you have here Captain." said Commander Perkins, genuine admiration in his voice.

"Thank you, though I am rather of the opinion that it is rather utilitarian." she said truthfully. The Silaris did her job, and did it well.

"You call this utilitarian?" he said, a little disbelief in his voice, " Then I would love to see just what you would call a beautiful ship. "

"It's honestly not that different." she said nonchalantly," Even our warships are designed to look somewhat similar to this. And while beautiful, I cannot help but feel that in comparison to your ships, they are rather… fragile. " she said truthfully, with just a little bit of her hoping he would divulge something.

"While I would love nothing more than to talk shop with you Captain," he said rather apologetically" I'm afraid that talking about the… details of the construction of our own ships would most certainly in violation of my orders.I can however agree with you that our ships are rather wretched in comparison to yours. They are rather robust and roguish compared to yours."

"Still… it has a rather… safe feeling. Like I feel like it is something that one can rely on" she said wistfully. She would most certainly love to have shielding technology like theirs.

"Once again Captain, no comment, though I suspect this is something you feel about your own ship." he continued in a diplomatic tone.

"Indeed. The Silaris is a reliable ship." she said with quite a bit of fondness. The Silaris has been hers for a few years now and she has served her well.

"So let's talk about something else shall we! Tell me more about your people, the Asari" asked Perkins, genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Well," there was a lot to say about the Asari, but where to start? "let me start with our gender, essentially, I assume that you humans are a dual gendered race yes?"

"Of course. I assume that is the galactic norm as well?"

" Indeed. We Asari are unique in the galactic community in that we are essentially single gendered, all essentially female."

A look of bewilderment was now stuck on Perkins face, and Dala couldn't help but laugh a little at that. " Don't worry, many who first learn of that have similar reactions as well."

"It's just that, don't get me wrong madam, but I always thought that you were just a race that was more Matriarchal than Patriarchal. It turns out I was more right than I thought. "

"Indeed Commander. We are also a rather long lived race, at least by the normal standards of the galactic community."

"Oh? And just how old is that?"

"Over a thousand years Commander Perkins. Only one other race can live that long, and most others only live to about a century old at best."

"Wow," said Perkins, astonishment visible in his expression, "I mean, just… wow. Most humans don't even live past the age of a 100 and even then, those are rare cases. So how do you do it? Is it biology, diet or better medicine? " he said a little astonishment and hope in his voice.

"I'm afraid it's a biological thing Commander Perkins, what we have isn't a miracle of medicine, it is a effect of evolution." she said apologetically.

"That's a right shame it is then, " genuine sadness in his voice. Perhaps they had aspirations of living much longer? "Now I know that one should never ask a lady just how old she is, but in this case, I'll bite. How old are you madam?" he asked, a little of his enthusiasm leaking back

"Why I'm only 547 years old commander. "

"Why if you hadn't mentioned that, I would've thought that by the standards of us humans anyways, you would've been no older than 30! " he exclaimed a little playfully.

"Why thank you commander."

"It is merely the truth I speak ma'am." he said, ending his compliment with a flourish of his hand. "I however must inform you of something." he said again in a more serious yet calm voice." While I am indeed here as acting representative of His Majesty's government, there will be a proper delegation to continue these rather pleasant conversations we've been having in a more official and I imagine cultured manner. I am merely only a small time Commander of no importance, with no training for this whatsoever." he said apologetically

"For someone who has no training in this you are doing remarkably well Commander."

"I'd just like to think thats my natural charm coming out Captain." he said, a little confident smirk appearing on his face. "Still, normally, someone aboard the Stirling would handle this sort of thing but it was felt that our original job of clearing out the Mollies wouldn't need a diplomat. They don't offer any quarter and I've never met a Molly who wants to surrender. Anyways, I must apologize if I cannot answer some of your questions. The real diplomat will be coming in soon, and I do expect he'll handle these talks a lot better. " he said rather apologetically.

"It is no problem at all commander. I completely understand, but I must ask how will they be arriving, and when so that we may prevent any… hostile misunderstandings." she said rather worriedly. She would rather not have a war with these people.

"That is a rather good point you make Captain T'Loni." he conceded "I expect they'll arrive in a few hours time through the Jump Gate we arrived in. At the very least, the Battleship Stirling and her battlegroup will be there, so I must ask of you to not fire upon any ships that come out of that gate."

"Understood Commander, I will make sure that the fleet is informed." she said seriously. Oraka better follow the instructions she gives in this instance.

"But I must now ask Captain, what is this Citadel you keep mentioning, and could you kindly elaborate a little further on some of the aliens that we can expect to meet?" he asked rather curiously again.

"The Citadel" she said, her tone taking a more severe and important tone, " is the center of the galactic community. "

"Like the capital of a country, or in this case government?"

"Precisely." he caught on quickly. "While every member of the Citadel is still effectively independent, everyone is bound to help each other in times of need, and we are bound together on some mutually beneficial treaties."

"Such as?"

"Well, we have agreed not to use weapons of mass destruction on garden planets, planets that are easily capable of sustaining life. It takes millions of years to turn a planet into something habitable, to lose one of these planets to something as petty as war is simply a waste of something so incredibly rare. " she continued in a serious voice. The loss of Garden worlds was no laughing matter.

Perkins rather thought that made sense. Even with Planetform Inc, terraforming worlds took hundreds of years. "While I might agree with that personally, but forgive me if I cannot comment any further. To do so would have me possibly biding our government into something we aren't quite ready to accept yet. Have to read the fine print and all that. "

"I understand. Now, I do believe you also wished to learn about the other aliens you would expect to meet?"

"Indeed I do madam" he said excitedly. Clearly he wanted to know more about the others.

"Well let me start with the other species you will likely meet soon, the Turians. " she said as she produced an image on her omnitool.

"This is a turian," as she shows the picture of a rather avian looking creature with metallic skin, to Perkins. "They are best known in the galaxy for their role as peacekeepers and as members of the Citadel council. The Turians have the largest fleet on hand and are well known for their sense of duty."

"Should we be worried about them?" he said rather cautiously. Understandable, all things considered Dala thought. They may have perceived the Molly attack as a great threat. One they are willing to invade Bretonian space for.

"While they do indeed have the largest military in the Citadel, I must point out again that they are mainly there as peacekeepers, not warriors." she said, trying to reassure him.

"Thats good. While we in Bretonia are a peaceful folk, we understand the art of war and are willing to defend ourselves if push comes to shove."

"I understand, but there is no need to worry. Most of the Turian fleet is spread out dealing with pirates and other miscreants. "

"Ah, rather like most of our military then. Keep the peace, protect trade and commerce and so on? "

"Exactly Commander. You have them spot on."

"Then I feel we will have rather a lot to share on, like finding pirate hideouts."

"I'm sure you will, many Turians are members of law enforcement and culturally, they have all served some time in the military, so even a civilian will know how to "talk shop" as it were with you. But let us move on towards the others. "

"There are the Salarians" she said as she put up a picture of a race that rather reminded Perkins slightly of a newt with horns and large eyes, "a rather short lived amphibian race well known for their intelligence and scientists. For a race that lives only about 40 years, they do try and make the most of it. They have excellent memory, the second best known, and have a work ethic that would shame just about everyone else. They've been around for about 2000 years and were one of the founding members of the Citadel council along with us Asari."

"Interesting, do go on. I have questions, but I feel like they should wait for the end of this telling of yours."

"Then there are the volus," she said, producing an image of a rather rotund creature encased in a suit, "a rather short race that breath ammonia. They are rather unique in that regard and are considered the finest bankers and traders. They did after all create the standard unit of currency we in the Citadel use. Their entire society is centered around trade. Everything from land, resources, even other tribe members are bargained amongst themselves. So much so that they've tossed away the concept of war amongst themselves, deeming it too unprofitable."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you just described Liberty, but I'm interrupting again. Do continue."

While Dala did indeed have questions, she figured that continuing was best."Then there are the Elcor, " she said, producing an image of a rather large creature, hunched rather like an ape, with mottled brownish skin, "they are unique in that they speak in a completely monotone voice. They normally communicate between each other displaying their emotions through scent and other subtle changes that aren't noticeable to other species and so often express their emotions at the start of a statement. Thanks to living in a high gravity environment where the slightest fall could kill you, they have developed a cautious and highly conservative culture. You are unlikely to find an elcor outside of their home planets,seeing that they prefer to stay together in close knit groups. However, should you visit an Elcor, you'll rarely be wanting for something. They are a rather hospitable race.

"Then there are the Hanar,"producing an image of a… glowing jellyfish?" an aquatic race who believe in the Enkindlers, or Protheans, an ancient empire that once spanned the galaxy."

"Hold on. Protheans? Extinct aliens? I do believe that there are blokes in the University that would most certainly like to see that. They have had some alien ruins they keep digging up. Maybe they are one and the same?"

"I… doubt that Commander. You see, if you had discovered the Protheans, then you would most likely be making use of a certain aspect of their technology. Which you aren't, and we most certainly are. "

"Interesting...but I digress. Please do continue."

"The Hanar believe that the Enkindlers uplifted them and taught them all they know about said, they are incredibly polite, in fact never referring to themselves in the first person. "

"We now go into the last of the member races, the Batarians." she said as she produced an image of a four eyed bipedal race,"They are a race with a caste based system where it is highly frowned upon to overstep one's bounds. They value this system so much that to place a value on one's caste position is considered a serious insult. They also practice… slavery, despite it being illegal."

"Why would you let them continue then if it is illegal?" Perkins asked a little disbelievingly.

"It's because that while many suspect their government to support slavers, most of them are independent and in fact target all colonies, even Batarian ones. They just sell them back into their society."

"Madam, just hearing their description just makes me feel dirty. But please, continue. I'm sure there are more… pleasant races."

"Now we go into the last ones I will introduce, the Quarians." she said as she produced an image of… an alien that from a distance looked quite human thanks to the suit, but upon catching the three fingers and the bent legs, Perkins realized just how alien it was.

"While many of the younger lived races look upon them with distrust, I remember when the Quarians still had a home planet. 300 years ago, the Quarians were engaged in a brutal war with an AI race they accidentally created, the Geth. They lost and have since been traveling the galaxy, from one place to another in their Migrant Fleet. The loss of their homeworld meant that they are now required to live in envirosuits. Their immune systems are simply too weak to handle most common bacteria. Despite all this though, they are natural mechanics and engineers. Even before the loss of Rannoch, their homeworld, the Quarians were skilled programmers, as evidenced by the evolution of the Geth, and roboticists. Since they became nomads though, they have picked up a rather undeserved reputation in my opinion, of thieves. I feel that all they need now is a new home for them to settle on, but that is complicated by their biology, they are dextro based DNA not levo, and their immune systems. "

"They do sound rather pitiful. But I must ask, why introduce them last?"

"It is because that while yes, they did violate Citadel law by creating an AI, we had no choice but to expel them for creating a threat such as the Geth. We couldn't afford to join them in their quest to retake their homeworld simply because the Geth may perceive us as a threat and try to wipe us out."

"I… see…" he said, a little disbelievingly.

"There are of course other races around that aren't members of Citadel society, but they are all comparatively minor players at best." she said. The Krogan and the Drell were around yes, but they were comparatively… inconsequential

"Thank you Captain for the introduction. Now I do have some more questions…"

* * *

Silaris docking bay  
Tau 30 system

Over the past few hours, Perkins had essentially just been making small but polite inquiries into Citadel society and history, and it was… interesting to say the least while Dala had done the same about Bretonian society. It was an… enlightening experience. The humans were most interested in meeting and understanding other species and from the looks of it, they were rather intrigued with the prospect of leaving their systems and seeing new ones.

"I'm sorry Captain T'Loni, but I fear our time together here has passed." he said, with as much regret as he could muster "My superiors and the official diplomat assigned to these talks will be arriving shortly. May I say it has been a pleasure to know you and the rest of the galactic community. May we go and live together in peace." he said as he ended with a flourished bow.

"I thank you Commander Perkins, know that we of the Citadel look forward to meeting and interacting with humanity. Most of all, I must thank you and your men for saving the lives of many aboard this fleet. "

"It was my pleasure to have done so Captain T'Loni, now if you will excuse us, we must rendezvous with our Battlegroup by the gate. " he said as he and Thatch donned their helmets once more and headed to their fighters.

Now… now she waited. Soon she and her ship would get a grand view of the hu- Bretonian military.

* * *

Onboard the Silaris  
Port observation Deck  
Tau 30 system

Just about everyone who wasn't on-duty right now or could argue that observing the emerging fleet would be "in their interests" was gathered here in the Silaris' Port observation deck. Everyone was keeping an eye out on the artefact, just waiting for the thing to activate. Aela couldn't blame them. She too was incredibly curious as to what would come out of that artifact.

Dr. Aela D'Avo was, along with many throughout the fleet, in a deep state of thought. The fact that the aliens they had performed First Contact with had such an advanced grasp of technology, all without any eezo… It defied nearly every conventional school of thought in the Citadel.

"Dari, what do you think of all this?"

'I think that right about now, I would give my arms and legs for a chance to take back samples of their technology back to the fleet. If they could achieve FTL without eezo…"

"You could maybe find a new home."

"Or take back Rannoch. We could go Home!" she said excitedly "Not even the Geth could resist us with this kind of technology!"

"The big question though is, would they let you take something back?" she asked rather cautiously, she'd rather not dampen her hope, but … she had to be practical here.

"If they won't I'll find a way to get something. Even the wrecks of those other fighters could provide some insight. I'll take a shuttle and -"

"Look!" excitedly shouted Dari, " it's opening!"

Indeed the artefact was now opening, the artefact was once more forming the… wormhole in its center. Just what kind of ship or ships would come out of it now?

"Goddess…" she could begin to see part of one of the ships emerge and it was huge. Easily a dreadnaught to rival any the Citadel possesses. Like a great lumbering whale, it crawled out of the anomaly and into full view right in front of the gate.

"That is easily the size of the Gladius, maybe even a bit larger" said Dari a little bit of awe in her voice, "and those guns on hers… Keelah, if they fire energy weapons too…"

"It would likely bypass any barriers we have. All we have protecting us is a layer of armor…"

"It's a good thing they came in peace then right?"

"Indeed Aela. Yes indeed." she said hope strong in her voice. These people could be the key to going home... 

* * *

Onboard the Gladius  
Tau 30 System

General Septimus Oraka was not exactly pleased. First was the attack on his ships, then was the nasty surprise that the aliens had unleashed upon the Hoplon and crippled her, and now an alien fleet was now entering the system through that artifact.

"General, reading similar energy signatures around the artifact again. I think the fleet is arriving now."

"Good, right on schedule as the Silaris advised. I want all ships to observe the alien contacts, I want opinions on the functions of each ship and what their capabilities are."

"Aye aye sir. Relaying orders."

Oraka then kept a close eye on the visual feed. He could see the first ship, likely a dreadnaught from how big the ship was, he would guess a roughly a little bit bigger than the Gladius itself. Rough and tough, likely as a way to make sure the ship survived any breaches through its barriers.

Then came its escorts, cruisers based on the size of them. Heavily armed, practically bristling with gun turrets. A dedicated Point defence ship? A possibility. Wouldn't know till he saw it action, and Spirits willing, not against him.

Finally came a larger contingent of smaller ships, some of the more familiar fighters that he has come to recognize thanks to the earlier patrol, and larger, frigate sized ships, rather like a bird of prey those last ones. Likely fast and maneuverable do deal damage to the PD ships.

" I want your opinion men. What do you think of the Alien Dreadnaught?" he asked, it was always useful for another perspective.

"I think it serves as the command and control ship sir. Likely it relays all relevant orders it has to other ships in the fleet. " said Lieutenant Praxis, his voice confident in it's assertion.

"What makes you say that?" asked General Oraka, while he knew the answer to that, it paid to double check. Praxis was shaping up to have some potential for a promotion and if he could give the right analysis, it could only further solidify his thoughts on the matter.

"I'd say judging from the formation that its now in sir. " he said pointing at one of the visual feeds.

"There are cruisers at the bow, port, starboard and stern of it. Judging from the weapons emplacements on those cruisers, I think those cruisers are providing extra PD to the central ship, or perhaps covering its flanks, either way, they are protecting that ship, this suggests that it is rather important. Next up, the Frigates and the fighters, look at their patrols, they are still circling the ship, I think that ship is very important sir, not just from its size, but from the way the other ships are protecting it."

"Good point Lieutenant. As for the weapons?"

"I think that knowing their, tech, it'll likely still be an energy weapon, and I think that Dreadnaught is optimized to fight other dreadnaughts. Look at the size of those guns. I don't think they'll hit a fighter easily, I do think they'll deal some massive damage to anything we have."

"Good observation. Thoughts on countering them?"

"Well sir, I'd recommend out ranging them. Those energy weapons of theirs seem to dissipate after a certain range, likely the energy leaking out, so range and concentrated fire sir. A fighter screen of our own should also help take on any fighters they have, but the fleet only has a small contingent of fighters so…"

"It won't be much use against them, especially with those shields of theirs."

"Yes sir. Still, I do think we have a decent chance of taking on that fleet if need be. We could outrange them, and I do believe we can out manoeuvre them. Though I am rather worried about our ability to damage them. They do look rather well armored."

"If I may add to the discussion sir." asked Lieutenant Spica, one of the sensor officers.

"Go ahead Lieutenant."

"Well sir, based on what me and several other of the techs have been observing, as you know, any barrier's most basic function on a starship is not to block out enemy fire, but to block out microdebris from damaging the hull of a ship."

"Yes, and I assume that the barriers on the larger ships are weaker than we expect?"

"Thats just it sir, we aren't reading any barrier at all. In fact, we are reading that microdebris are in fact directly impacting the hull of the larger ships. I don't think those ships have any sort of barrier at only thing me and the other sensor techs and I have managed to confirm is that there seems to be a rather strong corrosive on those ships, coupled with some light radiation. We detected it earlier on the fighters that we first encountered, but we wrote it off as a sensor fluke, now… Now we believe that these alien have a strong resistance to radiation because otherwise they would have gone and decontaminated it by now, I think."

That in itself had rather disturbing implications. If a race was naturally immune to radiation, they were more likely to resort to nuclear warfare… To them it would be a light summer day when bathing in that radioactive hell…

"Spirits, I hope you are wrong Lieutenant. I hope you are wrong…" he said as he looked onto the incoming fleet.

* * *

HMS Stirling, Captain's Quarters  
Tau 30 system

Lord Edward Barstow was for the moment, like many aboard the Sitrling, quite a bit in awe at the alien fleet. Of particular note was the ship in the middle of the fleet; it was alien in design, all curves and chrome, with several other ships of a different make, all harsh predatory angles, surrounding it, including one rather thin looking Battleship.

Unlike many aboard the ship though, he had seen enough alien artifacts to know that these weren't related to the ones that many of the rich liked to collect. These aliens were different, and most importantly alive.

That led to problems. Problems he was here to hopefully prevent from ever surfacing. Now he foun himself in the Captain's quarters, rather tastefully decorated with choice pieces from some New London sculptor the Lord Barstow heard was starting to gain some notoriety for making great use of Liberty influences of some rather ancient Egyptian styles.

"What do you make of this situation, James?" asked Lord Barstow to Captain James Dunbar, his long time friend since their days in prep school.

"I think- no, I know we know nothing, Ed. We're treading on virgin territory here, and to be honest, that terrifies me." said Captain Dunbar as he poured Lord Barstow and himself a glass of scotch.

"You, the Stoic of Saint Bartleby's Academy? Terrified?" Lord Barstow asked disbelievingly as he accepted the drink, "If it wasn't for the fact that I myself am staring at that bloody alien fleet, I wouldn't have believed you. Now though…" said Lord Barstow as he downed his scotch in one go, "Now I'm just wondering what the bloody hell is going on here. What we have here is a complete mystery, and exactly why I cannot wait for Perkins to hurry up and get here. I want to interview the man myself and figure just how much he messed up."

"I know he made a right mess of the talks you are to head now, Ed." Captain Dunbar said, understanding clear in his voice, "The man wasn't trained for this, hell, none of us are. The only reason King Alexander picked you was that firstly, you are his first cousin, and second, you have a talent for talking your way through things. I think he hoped you could work your special magic on the aliens." he said as he sipped his own drink.

"I'm not sure my 'magic' will work on the Aliens." he said a little sarcastically "It works in getting a little better trade concessions from those nice folks from Liberty yes, but these are aliens! We have no idea with what we are dealing with here, James," he said loudly, "Bloody hell, we don't even have a point of history to identify with! All we have is one flight leader who has encountered them, and who has likely damaged any foreseeable talks with them, ergo, the ones I'm handling."

"God knows there are far far too many unknowns for my liking here Ed. Large alien fleet, no idea as to their weaponry or defenses, not even the slightest hint as to whether or not this is a trap or if they can find out where the rest of Bretonian space is. There are just far too many unknowns here for my liking." he repeated as he sipped his drink, "If I had my way, I'd have asked for at the very least the Norfolk to join us, damn the trade lanes. This is far too important to not show up without being over prepared. " he said, as he finished his drink in one . "I've a flight of Crusaders with Starkiller Torpedoes ready just in case Ed. " he said rather seriously," If those aliens try anything, I'll launch that flight and tell em to unleash hell. All of their torpedoes if need be. I'll bet that it'll give em enough a thrashing for them to consider a retreat."

"I'd think you would hope that things wouldn't go to that James." said Lord Barstow, trying to reassure him that it won't come to that.

He hoped.

"Ed, in my line of work, assumptions won't get you anywhere else but an early grave. I'm deathly afraid, but I know that acting all timid like will likely end up with my men dead. The only ambition I have today is to come out of this situation alive with as many of my men alive, which ideally means that I won't be firing any shots today. Ideally. God knows that isn't likely to be happening." he said as he stared out of his viewport.

"Let's hope not James"... said Lord Barstow as he too stared at the mysterious alien fleet…

* * *

HMS Stirling Bridge  
Tau 30 System

"What can you tell me about the data we received from the flight recorders of Perkins and Doctor Brent's flight?" asked Captain James Dunbar, the more he knew about the situation before interviewing Perkins the better.

"Well sir, as I'm sure you've taken notice of when you watched the recordings, the aliens seem to make use of laser based Point Defence. Unusually enough, when we reviewed the recordings, it seems that their lasers are quite weak. They barely drained the shields of our Crusaders, which considering that we make use of Positron shields, means that these lasers were hardly even denting our shields. However, while weak, they were incredibly accurate. Look at how when they concentrated fire on the Mollies, entire batteries kept track of single fast moving fighters, and managed to keep up their aim. I think that while they don't specialize in energy weapons, they do specialize in weaponry that requires very precise aiming" said Lieutenant Wilkins.

"So possibly they decided to go concentrate on missiles or traditional ballistics?"

"I think so sir, There do seem to be gunports on the front of their ships. It could be that their entire ships are built around the gun itself, which in itself suggests to me a concentration on mass drivers."

"How would our armor stand against these mass drivers of theirs?"

"I'm not sure sir. In theory, our armor could withstand us moving at full cruise speed into a station and go straight through it, sustaining only minor damage, Seeing as this has never been tested though…"

"Let's not test that today Lieutenant. Onto my next question then, what do you make of the weird energy signatures that we've found on our scans of their ships? It seems like there seems to be some sort of… gravitational anomaly on board those ships of theirs. It's as if… somehow parts of their ships are under entirely different gravitational fields, which according to our own understanding of anti-gravity, is entirely impossible."

"So they have some sort of better understanding of anti-gravity than we do then. That they can somehow remotely fine tune the gravity in certain sections of their ships? Make some parts more massive and some less and so forth?

"From that our scans show us, yes. There seem to be a rather unusual amount of mass disparity on their ships. Their ships somehow have less mass than they should have. This should be impossible yet I'm seeing it right here sir. "

"Then I think we better keep a close eye on these aliens. No telling just what tricks they can pull..."

* * *

HMS Stirling  
Debriefing Room  
Tau 30 System

"Commander Perkins, I'm going to be honest with you" said Captain James Dunbar, regret strong in his voice as he poured Perkins and himself a glass of scotch, "you've gone and buggered up the talks. Now now, I admit it wasn't your fault Perkins, but Command will want someone to blame for us not having every advantage we could have in the talks. From what you've told me, you've gone and told them we're not the only humans around here.' he said as he sipped his scotch, "That means that we can't go and reveal them as needed. Command is asking for someone to blame, and sad to say Perkins, but you are the logical fall man for this. But I have to tell you Perkins, that was the bad news."

"That I'm buggered sir? That I'm likely to be assigned to hunting and subsequently dying to a Corsair or Outcast patrol?" he asked, the sarcasm strong in his voice.

"You could do that if you choose to continue with us here in His Majesty's Armed Forces..." he said as he continued to sip his drink, "Or you could take our deal."

"It would depend sir, what deal? he asked a little suspiciously.

"We could let you go from the Armed Forces with an honorable discharge and all wages due to you."

"An what sir? Go and end up working on Leeds and dying in some Mining accident? Go work for BMM or Bowex and die working under either of them?"

"No Perkins. Here is what Command is willing to offer to you" Dunbar said as he finished his drink, "Command is willing to let you go honorably with your Crusader. Fully armed and repaired. You could be your own man Perkins, a freelancer. You could do anything you wanted to within the colonies."

"So sir, you are essentially offering me either death by patrol, or an 'honourable' discharge while I go Freelance working whatever hours I want and for whoever I want?" he asked , sarcasm strong in his voice, " I think my answer there is obvious sir, as much as I love serving His Majesty, I like living as well. I'll take the Freelance option sir, see what else this galaxy has to offer."

"Excellent, Perkins, and if I may offer a suggestion, ?"

"Yes sir?"

"I expect talks here will continue for quite a while. I can expedite your honourable discharge and make it official within the day. Provided things go well… You can offer your services to the aliens as their unofficial tour guide. And funnel a little bit of what you know to us. We'd pay you for your services to them and at the same time, I expect they'll pay you in some other form, raw materials and such. We learn a little bit more that can help us in our diplomatic talks, and you can go and earn two pays for one job."

"That's a mighty smart idea sir. I think I'll take your advice sir."

"Good job lad. I'll forward your first payment soon and I expect you'll update us every week on what you manage to learn of the aliens. You are now essentially a deniable asset to the Kingdom of Bretonnia. God help you lad."

"Sir, I'll be honest. I'm only doing this because I have no idea what I can do after this. I don't have the credits for Liberty, I'd have trouble finding work in Kusari and Rhineland is in shambles. I think working for Bretonnia, no matter how indirect is my only choice here. Sir."

"I understand Perkins. You've been caught between a rock and a hard place."

"No kidding sir. Still, things could be worse." he said as he downed his own drink. So much for leaving the aliens...

* * *

Onboard the Silaris  
Tau 30 system

All things considered, Captain Dala T'Loni thought things were going well. These aliens, humans, had managed a mostly peaceful first contact. If it wasn't for those… Mollies, then Dala was confident no shooting would have happened. The Molly incident was rather fortunate though. It led to some rather interesting revelations; namely the existence of other powerful factions within their sector of space, all fellow humans. They also seemed to have some sort of problem internally, or at least with worker's rights. Then there was the fact that this entire sector was all human owned, but from different factions. Furthermore, these humans were all essentially wartime refugees fleeing from some war over their homeworld but had no intentions of going back and fighting whoever won that war centuries ago. Not to mention all the advanced technologies these people seemed to posses, super hard armor, directed energy weapons, wormhole generation...

All in all, the humans were shaping up to be a very… interesting race. They were most certainly going to disrupt the balance of power within the Citadel and now she had to prepare her own diplomatic team to go and greet the humans aboard their dreadnaught.

"Dr Aela D'Avo, I want you with me, your experience with linguistics may come in handy if our grasp of their… English fails."

"Me? I'm a Xenoarcheaologist yes, but I'm not exactly a dedicated translator…" said Dr D'Avo rather hesitatingly. To be put in such a position… It was not something she was mentally ready for.

"But you cracked their language rather well, yes? That is most certainly good enough Dr D'Avo." said Captain T'Loni reassuringly," You will come with me. I'm sure you will do well and I'm sure your services won't even be needed."

"Lieutenant Shala, you are with me as well" said Captain T'Loni as she pointed her out,". You will be our technical advisor for this mission." Then,turning to Dari, Captain T'Loni explained in as gentle a manner as she could, " If we were simply investigating the artifact, I would have picked you Miss vas Neema,, but…"

"No need to explain Captain" said Dari, holding her hand up to stop her". I understand your reasoning. Just get me onto one of their ships when we can and I'll be happy to explain things away. Lieutenant Shala can go and relay her findings to me and I'll go and do what I can."

"Right then, I want a small Commando detachment for security, 2 at the most. "

"Two? I think you should be bringing aboard with you a lot more than that Captain." rebuked General Oraka, " Who knows what could be aboard that ship? Or even if this is one great big elaborate trap?" he said strongly. He did have good security points, but by the Goddess, they needed to show that they could be trusted!

"I understand your concerns General, but I think that two Commandoes should be able to handle what they are needed to do." said Captain T'Loni in her now well used reassuring tone of voice," Enough for security, but not too many to threaten. Just the right amount for diplomacy."

"Fine Captain, but be aware, if they do hold you hostage in some plan of theirs, know that I will fire with no hesitation." he said gravely.

"I understand General. Now, Ladies, let us proceed to the shuttle."

"Yes Captain" echoed the selected members of the delegation. If the talks with Commander Perkins was anything to go by, things were only going to get more interesting.

* * *

HMS Stirling Docking bay  
Tau 30 system

Lord Edward Barstow was right now understandably nervous. He was here, right at forefront of first contact with alien intelligence. Here he was, representing His Majesty's Government, and for a brief moment, perhaps all the Colonies of Sirius, to these aliens.

God he could use a drink right about now.

And now… now there was the alien shuttle making its slow, almost graceful approach. The shuttle certainly reflected the same design style as the alien ship, all chrome and curves in one package. It was beautiful in that it was clean and simple, yet elegant in ways he hasn't seen often.

Nonetheless, he had more important things to take note of right now. The security detail was ready with their rifles by their side and ready to unleash some of the finest weapons to come out of the Detroit Arms Depot…

As the shuttle opened its doors however, despite Perkins' description and picture of them, he couldn't help but be a little entranced by them. Somehow the blue ladies walked with a grace that came naturally only to the most refined and dignified Bretonian Noblewomen. Unlike most of them though, the way they walked, even the ones visibly armed with weapons, it somehow… just made them altogether beautiful in a dignified manner.

Still, best keep his guard up. Many a diplomat has been laid low by feminine wiles and he won't be one of them.

"Greetings on behalf of the Asari Republics" said the lead one in a shimmering and oh so clingy silver dress, "We are the Asari, and we welcome you into the Galactic Community. We come in Peace."

Time to work his magic then. "On behalf of the Kingdom of Bretonia, and Humanity here in the Sirius systems, we also greet you in the name of peace. Let us move together forward into an era of mutual prosperity and stability." he said in that special way of his, as if greeting a fellow friend that was also nobility, cool, open and friendly, yet somehow keeping it understood that there is business to be done today.

"Indeed we shall. I am Captain Dala T'Loni, effective exploratory leader of this fleet." she said, still managing that calm tone of hers.

"I am Lord Edward Barstow of New London, first cousin to his Majesty King Alexander II of the Kingdom of Bretonnia, appointed ambassador to this most esteemed occasion." he said, keeping his voice firm yet friendly. "Let us proceed to the official talks if you don't mind?"

"Yes. Let us indeed. We have much to talk about."

"We do madam. Would you kindly now follow me to our conference room, where we can begin our discussions? I do so hope you enjoy our hospitality here." he said as he signaled his escorts to follow him. He walked down the halls of the Stirling towards its conference room, careful to stick to the best maintained and aesthetically pleasing portions of the ships.

Captain Dala T'Loni meanwhile couldn't help but think that this ship reminded her of Krogan engineering, tough enough to likely outlast the user. What differed was the occasional wall ornament near the ceiling that seemed to represent some sort of beastial version of humans, horns coming out of the tops of the… heads of the ornaments. Possibly a reminder of strength? Though what struck Dala the most was that as they walked down the corridors, she couldn't help but think, the Krogan built their things tough because they had to be tough. Tuchanka wasn't the most pleasant planet around, what with it essentially being a post-apocalyptic wasteland. What sort of environment did these Humans live in to necessitate such a tough and comparatively utilitarian design?

She was however snapped from her thoughts when the human, Lord Barstow, opened a door and she entered a marvellously decorated room. A table, hewed from real dark wood, likely some valuable and rare one, sat at the centre of the room. Carvings of some sort of leaf pattern dotted the frame of the table and its legs were even curved, likely trying to mimic the tree trunks it was hewed from. The chairs were similarly decorated and had some likely rich and rare, red material as cushioning. The floor was carpeted in some magnificent scarlet material, soft and springy, while the walls and ceiling seemed to be panelled with real wood, this time of some reddish brown colour.

Truly, when these people wanted to decorate, they went with something that just seemed to be so… timeless. A scene from something before travels into space. Not even the oldest Matriarchs chose to decorate their own homes in such a manner. It was beautiful.

"Now, normally at this point of any talks, I'd offer one some tea and biscuits, or some sherry or whisky if alcohol was their preference, but seeing as we don't quite understand each other's physiologies that much…" Lord Barstow said apologetically.

"There is no need to explain Lord Barstow," said Dala understandingly, "I understand your caution, but I would like to try out your food and drink as well. Our… hand held computers will be able to scan and tell us if it is safe for us to eat and drink. I'll take the tea and… biscuits if you don't mind."

"Capital!" he said rather energetically. He then pointed out one of his escorts, "Smith, could you kindly grab a kettle and prepare the Earl Grey? Bring along some cream and sugar as well, our guests may want some. Tell Rogers down in the bar to bring up my stash of pastries as well." then he turned to Captain T'Loni, "Oh and I wouldn't mind if you feel it necessary for one of your escorts to look after the tea and biscuits. I understand completely that caution is something that is necessary in this situation."

"I understand Lord Barstow, but there is no need for that. Your man may continue."

"Right then. Smith, get to it." Lord Barstow ordered.

"Right o sir!" said the Smith, saluting briskly then quickly making his way out of the room.

"Now then madam, while we wait for our tea, please, sit. I'm sure you have many questions and sitting would be preferable yes?"

"Thank you for the offer Lord Barstow. Let me begin with some of the most pressing issues that I feel as a representative of the Citadel Council need to be addressed, namely your general location. We wish to know the extent of your territory within the galaxy."

"Of course we may address that issue." he said as he seamlessly took a seat and typed something into a panel on his side, and a holographic display appeared on the table, there was likely some hidden projector either on the table or on the ceiling, probably to keep the feel of this room."Now, as I've been told, Commander Perkins has graciously told you Ladies of the other Houses yes?"

"Yes he has." Dala replied...

"I best mention all our claimed systems then." he said as he zoomed into a particular portion. Dala recognized it, this was where they were, a rather remote location within the Attican Traverse. It was largely unexplored due to it being rather distant from the nearest Mass Relay in the Armstrong Nebula. The Seventh fleet only barely found this particular system in range, and even then, it was only considered for visiting because of the suspicion that a major pirate group had a base of sorts here. Dala imagined that freighters would find this within their range but why bother? No one lived here, and as far as many knew there was nothing of value here. Till now at least. "We are here, in the Tau 30 system, a recently claimed system by us, the Kingdom of Bretonia. It lies to the galactic northwest of several of our other systems, and is directly connected to one of them. You will forgive me if I do not tell you the specific locations of them for now, at least until we have some sort of formalized trade treaty going on, which I suspect we will be going into later. But I digress," he said as highlighted several areas on the map in red, "these territories are ones directly claimed by the Kingdom of Bretonia. Adjacent to us," he once again highlighted several worlds, this time to the galactic north and south east, "are these border worlds. Neutral territory so to speak, of our Houses. These are actively patrolled by members of both our Armed Forces and the neighboring Houses." he once again highlighted another area, this time in black to the galactic northeast, "These are the Independent systems, notable only for a holiday planet and their direct connection to Liberty Space." he once again highlighted several areas, this time a set of purple ones in the galactic north, a set of green ones in the south, and a set of blue one in the center. "These are the areas claimed by the other houses: Liberty in blue, Kusari in purple, and Rhineland in green. They are all our friends and allies here in the Sirius systems. I must inform you that due to the… nature of this contact, in that it is our first, we have informed them of this situation." he said seriously with a hint of regret in his voice. He would've kept it a secret from them for as damned long as possible, but Perkins messed that up. Alex wanted to lead Bretonia somewhere to the future, but without some sort of leverage, he had nothing here in these talks that might keep Bretonia definitively in the lead. Perkins ruined that.

"We understand completely," Captain T'Loni replied, if a large unknown fleet appeared, she would've tried to inform others of said fleet. "If I may ask, what do they think of us?" she asked curiously.

"Honestly, we don't know. They haven't replied yet, though I dare suspect that their fleets are silently mobilizing as a precaution."

That was something that alarmed Dala, unknown fleets of warships with unknown technologies possibly mobilizing for war? That was bad in any circumstance. "Tell them we mean no harm, we wish only to invite you, Humanity, and that means all the systems you highlighted, to join the galactic community."

"And what sort of benefits would we get? Within the Sirius systems we are quite self-sufficient. Each of the Houses have something that the others want."

"Trade of technology for one thing. I'm very sure that you would be quite interested in that. We would also be able to facilitate the exchange of culture and learning. We can also provide more traditional forms of trade, raw materials, food, consumer goods, whatever is needed. I'm sure that the introduction of new markets is something that all the companies within this area would be most interested in. We could also tell you of other habitable systems nearby."

That struck a certain point to Ed. Most notably food and the habitable systems part. It isn't commonly known, but the main reason that Planetform was funded by the government was that Bretonia is looming on the brink of famine. There were far too many heavily industrialized planets and not enough planets growing food. If- no not if, when famine struck, the other houses would intervene… at a cost. Bretonia could face a Rhineland situation. With these aliens however… maybe just maybe, they could get better prices off them, or more importantly colonies. Yes, they would have to share with the other houses, but the potential here…

"While this does sound like a good idea Captain," Lord Barstow calmly replied, "I can't help but feel that there are certain… catches so to speak here."

"Catches, Lord Barstow?" replied Captain T'Loni, confusion in her face, "A moment please." she said after giving Barstow's words some thought.

"What does he mean by catch Aela?" Dala quickly asked Dr D'Avo, remembering to stick to Thessian.

"I think he means there is too much going for him here that he can't help but feel he is being baited into a trap…" she tentatively replied

"And thus get caught in it. We'll just have to convince them otherwise." she replied with a slight smile.

"Apologies Lord Barstow, I had to clarify some things with my colleague here. I do get what you are saying now though. Believe me when I say that joining the Galactic Community, the Citadel, can only lead to benefits to your peoples. Yes there are some treaties that all members must sign, but these are all just things that we believe are necessary to maintaining peace throughout our space." Dala replied in as calm a manner as she could.

"Such as?"

"Well, there are the treaties limiting the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction on garden worlds. Even with FTL, as I'm sure you know, worlds that can support life are few and far between, and bringing one planet to life supporting standards takes millions of years."

"That does make sense, but I'm sure there are other treaties we need to know about. But first, explain to me just what is this Citadel you keep referring to?" he inquisitively replied. Perkins explained a little about it, but hearing from the aliens was always nice.

"Around 3000 years ago, we the Asari discovered the Citadel, an ancient and gigantic space station created by an ancient and extinct race we call the Protheans. It lies at the center of a series of what we call Mass Relays, something similar to what we suspect are your… wormhole generators, except that the Protheans built them. They are our major form of travelling throughout the galaxy. We, along with the Salarians who came soon after, decided to form a collaborative government on the Citadel, seeing its central location as the logical location for a government. We formed the Citadel Council, a group to call judgement on those who break Citadel laws, settle disputes, and enforce the peace. Take note however that the Citadel Council has no overhanging authority over the still sovereign nations. They provide arbitration and oversight. All species who join are thus protected under Citadel Law and can enjoy the many benefits of being an associate member. A Council member is a species that proves itself worthy and thus earns its seat on the Citadel Council."

"Hmm…" thought Lord Barstow. While on paper it sounded good, general peace, protected trade, prevent war between the others, essentially the Boorman Treaty with an oversight committee, it still sounded like there would be a catch. There always is. Years of dealing with Liberty had taught him that.

"For something like this, I cannot act without the approval of my King, Captain T'Loni. This is simply far too important. I would request copies of the treaties that we would be required to sign so that I may properly review them. Of course I understand it'll take time for you to translate those into English, so those can wait or later talks no?"

"I understand completely Lord Barstow. Let us move on to other things, we have questions on your FTL."

"Our Jump Gates?"

"Indeed, we are very much interested in them. What would you want in exchange for their schematics?"

And there was the catch. No one has access to those schematics outside of DSE, Aegira and the highest echelons of the Liberty government. Oh the other houses have tried for years to get their hands on them, but taking apart an already functional Jump Gate would arouse too much suspicion from Liberty and the white boxes on them were very well designed. No one has managed to crack them open.

"We may have a problem there Captain." he replied a little embarrassedly, "You see, we don't know how they work."

"You mean some ancient race built these gates as well?" Dala replied. Did these colonists take out a race capable of building these gates only for them to be unable to replicate them?

"Not exactly ancient, more like it is our neighbor, Liberty, who built them." Lord Barstow replied a little awkwardly. "I suspect you want to build your own copies of them." he replied once he saw the Captain's suddenly hopeful looking expression, "Don't bother. We've tried for centuries to get them to share their tech, but they hoard that patent very close to their hearts."

"Then how do you build new ones?" Dala replied a little unbelievingly. "You all just go to this… Liberty and ask them to build you a new gate?"

"Not exactly ask. More like… agree to whatever payments Ageira or DSE wants."

"Ageira and DSE?"

"Ageira Technologies and Deep Space Engineering hold a monopoly on building any and all Jump Gates and trade lanes within the colonies. They are the only ones who know how to and are completely backed by the Liberty government."

In Dala's mind, this brought a whole new meaning to megacorporation. That these two companies held so much power over sovereign states… It's clear now that talks would have to happen between all these Sirius Houses, at the same time in the same place. It'll probably give the Citadel the best chance at a good deal. However… she couldn't just leave these talks without something. Trade of sorts would be good, or perhaps telling them of Element Zero? No, regular trade, and an open appearance as well could be more beneficial. It'll show peaceful intentions yet willing to trade things, from tech to material goods.

"I… see. This is something that I imagine will require me to talk to someone from Liberty, yes?"

"Yes indeed. You must understand that we in the colonies are very dependent on each other." which in Lord Barstow's mind was 'even though we wish we weren't' "We each specialize and provide a certain trade or service to each other. Liberty specializes in Finance and Travel Technology" _And make sure to lord it over the rest of us_ , "we in Bretonia specialize in manufacturing, and certain material extraction," _best not mention BMM's worker policy_, "Kusari, IT and specialized components and fuel," _and they really try their best to make sure that they keep things IN Kusari_, "and Rhineland ,raw materials and basic machinery" _mostly because that's all they have left_. "We've found rather much like your interspecies alliance, different competing societies with very diverse areas of focus leads to a much more effective growth in both our societies and economies. "

So, in the absence of other races, they found that different societies would help facilitate growth and change. Dala just couldn't form a picture of what these humans are like. Everything that she has seen so far has just been… so hard to figure things out. Still, it sounds like Bretonia has things that could be traded for. "It sounds like you Humans are indeed quite an interesting species. It is true that we have found that each species has their own particular disposition on the Citadel, we Asari tend to specialize in Hi-Tech products while Turians would be more along the line of security. Now that we hear you humans have some products and materials nearby, perhaps trade of sorts could be arranged?"

There we go. Now she has caught the scent of something she likes. "While I'm not opposed to it," Lord Barstow replied, careful to not show his interest too much, "this is something that bears great weight on what will affect the future of our peoples. I am however open to openly announcing the first contact with your peoples. You could follow us, into the Jump Gate, and we can take you onwards towards New London, where you will most certainly be well received by the King." A public appearance would also incidentally raise Bretonia's image quite a bit within the colonies. The Brave Bretonians who encountered the unknown and greeted it with warmth and peace, ushering a new era of exploration etcetera etcetera.

Meanwhile, Dala was seriously contemplating this. First Contact and the meeting of the monarch of these people? The First users of a brand new form of FTL?

She would be moving so far into the unknown, but that thought merely sweetened it for her. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, even among the Asari. It wasn't every day you met a species like the Humans.

"While most certainly a… tempting offer Lord Barstow," she replied cautiously, it wouldn't do to offend her hosts, "I fear I must consult with my superiors first. This, like you said, is a most momentous decision."

"I understand completely. Take your time and-" a bell rung, not an alarming one, a slight tingle, just enough to grab one's attention, "Ah! The tea is ready. Let's start our recess. I do believe you will enjoy our time honored tradition of tea."

Dala personally had no idea what tea was but she did suspect that with the amount of reverence these Bretonian humans had for tea, it must be an important part of their culture. When she turned towards the door, there entered a human in a sleek black outfit with a with a white layer under. He walked upright and carried in his two white gloved hands, what looked like a tray of incredibly fragile looking ceramics. She carefully turned to her resident Xenoarchaeologist for some ideas.

"Dr.D'Avo, any ideas on what this ceremony is about?" she quietly asked.

"I can't be too sure Captain," Aela replied hesitatingly "but I do suspect that it's a drinking ceremony of sorts. Not alcoholic for sure."

"Ah Smith!" Lord Barstow laughed cheerily, "You went and decided to go for the Jeeves outfit for this occasion eh?"

"I do believe that for this occasion, you should call me Jeeves, suh. It is after all, my actual first name." replied Smith calmly and professionally.

"Capital, Jeeves! Now if you would kindly serve us?"

"Of course sir." said the man, Jeeves, as he carefully laid down the tray at the center of the table.

"Now, would you like to have your tea strong and sweet? Or smooth and subtle?" Lord Bartow asked Dala.

"I'll have it the way you'll have yours Lord Barstow. I wouldn't know the difference." she apologetically replied.

"Of course!" Lord Barstow replied a little embarrassed, "I'm terribly sorry about that. Let's do move on. Jeeves, one sugar and one cream for the both of us please. "

"Of course sir." said Jeeves as he carefully took the pot with the little spout and poured some sort of black steaming liquid into the tiny cups. He then took another pot with a spout and poured a rather small amount of white liquid into it. Finally, he took some powdery substance from one pot with a silvery looking spoon and scooped a spoonful into each. He then very carefully stirred each of the dainty looking cups with a silver spoon, and then grabbed each them and proffered one to herself and Dr. D'Avo then finally to Lord Barstow

Lord Barstow then, after delicately balancing his cup in his hand, and gently sipped his drink. "Mmm… It's been a long time since I enjoyed a nice cup." he said after a long while, clearly enjoying his drink.

Dala then decided to follow his motions, after remembering to do a quick scan with her omni-tool for any possible poisons that could affect her. Seeing that her tool sensed nothing beyond a mild stimulant, she then sent the results to the Silaris for a quick analysis of both the drink and some of the nearby foods that Lord Bartow was now eating. After about a few minutes, she received the go ahead to have the tea from one of the scientists aboard, having meanwhile listened to a little bit of life as one of the Aristocracy of this… Bretonian society.

It was warm, hearty and earthy with a smoothness to it along with a slight hint of sweetness. "This is most delicious Lord Barstow." Dala gladly complimented. "I'm sure I wouldn't mind taking this back to Thessia for some of the Matriarchs to taste."

"Please do so! I shall gift you with some of my personal blends and instructions on how to prepare them, along with your own tea set and some sugar and cream."

"Thank you Lord Barstow." it was indeed a generous gift if such a prized beverage was being gifted from this man's stores. Surely this was a sign that from here on in, things could only go smoothly?


	6. Chapter 6

Planet Manhattan  
New York System, Liberty

_Approximately 50 standard hours ago a Bretonnian patrol encountered an unknown fleet. One hour later, Lord Edward Barstow, one of Bretonnia's better diplomats is quietly but quickly moved to the HMS Stirling. Approximately 40 hours later, Bretonnia sends a message to all other Houses best described as 'We've encountered aliens. Things look peaceful so far. We've sent diplomats to talk to them. God help us all.' Our initial analysis suggests that since the Bretonnians are still talking, we've encountered an alien race that is willing to talk. We are still awaiting word from Operative Laslow for further data._

_Colonel Frederick Tanner_  
_Liberty Security Forces_

They say that in Liberty, Manhattan is basically one great big city separated by unusually large parks. Thousands of skyscrapers littered the skyline and millions of ships littered it's airspace, from luxury skycars to heavy duty fighters for freelancers, to freighters filled with the goods that Manhattan desired. If a trend started, and it was expensive, chances are, it started here.

At the center of this massive city lies the original Liberty sleeper ship. Converted into the seat of the government of Liberty, it was in here that Richard Wallace, 182nd President of Liberty, had his office, the old Captain's Quarters of the ship.

Right now, President Richard Wallace was not a happy man.

Though to be fair to him, he is a man who is in charge of the most powerful nation in the Sirius systems and could effectively cripple the other houses with but a few words, yet suddenly unable to do anything in what is now perhaps the most momentous event in the history of the Colonies. An alien fleet had appeared on the outskirts of Bretonnian space and no one but the Bretonnians could do anything but prepare and hope for the best.

"Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on in Bretonnia!" Richard roared at the men and women before him. These were some of the most influential men and women in both the Colonies and Liberty, but as President of Liberty he could change all that easily with but a snap of his fingers.

"Well sir," Admiral Ballantine, of the Liberty Navy, answered back professionally, "all we know is what the Bretonnians said, quote 'We've encountered aliens. Have sent diplomatic fleet to talk. God help us all.' end quote."

"You know that's not what the hell I meant!" Richard angrily retorted, "I meant did we have anything to tell us we should have expected this? Did the Valhalla Project say anything about this? This situation is a political shitstorm in the making!"

"Well..." Dr Harold Craxton, one of the top researchers in Ageira Technologies, shakily replied, "We all knew about the Alien Artifacts all over the Colonies, we had no reason to suspect that we were alone in the universe. We figured it was only a matter of time before we met some sort of alien life..."

"Well then wake up doctor and smell the shit! It's happening now!" Wallace shouted, "We've met these goddamn aliens, and now here is the million credit question, are these aliens in anyway related to what we found in Valhalla?"

"There's… no way to be sure sir," Dr Craxton hesitatingly responded, "We are however rather confident that these aren't the Dom'Kavash." he continued, his voice slightly steadier

"Then these are just aliens we've never seen a trace of before?" Richard replied.

"Essentially… we think so sir. This isn't as unlikely as you think sir!" Dr Craxton quickly replied upon seeing the President's face contort further towards rage, "Just finding these ruins proves we aren't alone in the universe. The fact that they found us and not the other way around doesn't change things." The President's face continued to redden and Dr. Craxton desperately spoke out the first idea that came to his head, in an attempt to save his job, "I mean, this could just prove to be one massive business opportunity for us!"

The President paused. Business was always good for Liberty, and it would always be in its interest to keep it good. "Explain."

Seeing his chance, Dr Craxton speedily replied, "Well… just because we are the ones who were discovered doesn't mean that we are the primitives here. We may be the veritable New World here, minus the inability to defend ourselves. These aliens may want something that we only have, or have in abundance. And if we are the only ones who have something…"

"We can charge them through their asses for it." continued the President. This has been the cornerstone of Liberty's business policy, especially in regards to the Jump Gates and Trade Lanes, for centuries. It would simply be bringing it to the next step were he to apply it to an alien race.

"Not to mention the market for our cheap goods. Think of the thousands of new markets, all waiting for exotic Liberty products, Synthpaste, Pharmaceuticals, Guns, Tech, Clothes, Art, you name what we make and chances are we could probably sell it! " continued the Dr Craxton, continuing to grasp at the straws of that he thought would work.

Which incidentally was what the CEO's of Ageira Technologies, Deep Space Engineering and Interspace Commerce were now thinking. So long as there was trade, these three companies would flourish. Ageira for the Jump Gate and Trade lane Parts for access to new systems, DSE for the construction, and IC for the insurance premiums it would make from the traders alone. They could possibly even go back to financing companies and other Houses! We're all going to be so rich.

Still, this was a rather risky venture, and it all ultimately relied on them having a peaceful first contact but the opportunity to tap virgin markets that have never yet seen Liberty methods… The payouts would simply be tremendous. Then a thought entered President Wallace's head.

They could be just like us.

They could try and flood our markets with their products. That means less profit.

They needed to get copies of the Alien merchandise and figure out how to make them to get back market that are rightfully theirs!

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he said, breaking the silence, "as much as Dr Craxton here is correct, it sadly works both ways. We've never seen their products before, and like it or not, chances are the people of Manhattan will want it, and that would mean credits going out of Liberty." he ended, letting that statement sink in for a bit. He could already see the frown forming in several of the CEO's before him. "What we need to do is buy time to fend off the fuckers from taking our markets."

"But Mr President," replied George Taggart, current CEO of Ageira Technologies, "Despite our excellent ability to produce high quality products, we can't possibly reverse engineer those products quickly enough to prevent the aliens from conceivably grabbing a significant portion of the market."

"Then we'll just have to make a deal with the devil, and call in the experts." President Wallace ended ominously.

* * *

Planet New Berlin  
New Berlin system, Rhineland

_Bretonnia seems to have encountered an alien fleet. Based on the message they sent out, the alien seem peaceful but we don't know for sure if the aliens are really benign. Agent Dieter has yet to find any other information on the situation._

_Hauptmann Werner Braun_  
_Rhineland Military Intelligence_

New Berlin is a planet of extremes in every sense of the word. A single day or night lasts almost one standard year, with the night facing extremely bitter winters, and the day side facing a more temperate summer where the temperatures rise a little above freezing. Despite all this though, this was the capital of the former Rhineland Empire, now the Federal Republic of Rhineland. It was here, in a place of both extreme wealth and extreme poverty that the current Chancellor of Rhineland, one Erik Reinhardt, had his office.

"Are we in any way capable of doing anything here?" he asked the men and women before him, some of the most intelligent and influential people within Rhineland, ranging from the corporate world, such as Daumann Heavy Construction, to members of what was left of the Rhineland Navy.

"No sir." Replied Admiral von Richthofen, the leading member of the Rhineland Navy and the Captain of the only Battleship left in Rhineland, the Westfalen, "It may have been over 50 years since the 80 Year War, but we are still feeling the loss. We've plenty of fighters ready to defend planets, but the Westfalen is our only sort of true mobile offense and defense. We did have a theoretical plan for this situation but…"

"It requires resources we simply don't have." Reinhardt grimly replied. A grim fact of life is that while Rhineland had nearly everything it needed, it had debts to pay. Crippling debts because of a war the old government lost to a bunch of miners because a bunch of old men didn't know when to quit. "So how can we take advantage of this situation Ladies and Gentlemen? Do we have any sort of plans to deal with this sort of situation? Anything that could be applied at all?" asked Reinhardt.

Silence echoed throughout the room. No one was really prepared for this kind of situation. Rhineland had more important and pressing issues than some out of the way theoretical situation that was likely years or even centuries in the future.

"There… is one thing I can think of sir." one of the aides to Daumann hesitatingly replied.

"Quiet Sabine!" hissed Werner Daumann, current CEO of Daumann industries.

"No." Erik interrupted, "Let the woman speak." and he motioned for the woman, Sabine to continue.

"Well…" she continued still a little hesitant, "back when I was studying in the University of New Berlin ,my ex was taking a political science and economics double major, and he came up with a rather radical thesis." she ended a bit, waiting for the Chancellor's approval to continue.

"Go on," he said tersely.

"I remember him saying something along the lines that Bretonnia has a lot of manufacturing and such but we do a lot of finished goods and machinery, and our focus on product quality ensures that we always have superior products." she replied, a little more confidently, "The aliens seem benign, and I suspect they will want to conduct trade. My ex suggested that Bretonnia, with it's historically neutral and peaceful state, could theoretically become our greatest trade partner. Now that they've made contact with the aliens, they now seem to be the key to exporting goods to the aliens, and importing products from them as well. They will be receiving a huge influx of alien raw materials, and finished goods, all ready for shipping to us Houses, seeing as it is unlikely that they could make use of all that material, but I digress from his thesis. In it, he suggested approaching Bretonnia, ask them to be our long term allies. He predicted that should there be a lot of long term and highly active trade between our Houses, which his thesis also recommended, it'll be a huge tempting target for their traditionally peaceful area of space. They would need military expertise to guard against the various criminals that would pop up. Expertise we can provide thanks to our many veterans. We provide protection in exchange for raw materials and a favorable price on our products. In exchange, our superior goods can get a more favorable share of the market. With a good share of the market…"

"We can start paying off Liberty, maybe even start implementing the reforms that we promised…" continued Reinhardt. The idea could work. Yes it needed to be refined a bit, but… it could be the key to Rhineland's salvation. "Sabine," Reinhardt quickly asked, "do you still have any form of contact with this ex of yours?"

"No sir," she grimly replied, "he disappeared sometime after he presented his completed thesis, I never got a letter or anything from him."

A rather unfortunate turn of events that. If he had disappeared it meant he was either dead, or now a criminal, possibly even one of those Bundschuh revolutionaries… Still, they could work without him.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we now have an idea on how to pull us out of this mess." he then pointed to Sabine, "Miss, go get copies of that thesis from the University of New Berlin. You have my authority to jump any and all procedures to get them as quickly as possible." then he pointed to the various executives in front of him, "I need plans drafted for manufacturing more goods. Take into account the materials Bretonnia would need, and whatever you think the aliens could possibly want. Refine the processes and I want you to start getting the factories running again." then finally to Admiral von Richthofen, "Admiral, I want plans drawn up for patrol routes escorting the trade lanes to the Omega systems. I want better coverage of our flights, and I want you to move the Westfalen to the Stuttgart system as well. That should help deter any pirates. I also want you to begin negotiations with the Bundschuh and LWB. With this alliance, we could possibly start enacting the reforms that they demand." he finished.

"Yes Chancellor," they all quickly replied. There was a lot to do now in Rhineland, aristocrats to tame, criminals to talk with, workers to negotiate, but for the future of Rhineland, and their pockets, they would move heaven and hell to achieve this.|

* * *

New Tokyo  
New Tokyo System, Kusari Empire

_My Lord Shogun_  
_We regret to inform you that beyond what Bretonnia has sent, we have learned little of the situation that is going on in the Tau 30 system. Agent Ro has yet to report in more details. Nonetheless we can still speculate based upon the message Bretonnia has sent to the other Houses. We suspect that these aliens will be seemingly benign. That does not mean they do not have hostile intentions. They could try to subjugate us quietly, infiltrate us with goods, culture, their way of thinking. These aliens could be the greatest threat to the stability of Kusari since the Blood Dragons._

_Chu-Si Roku_  
_Order of the Red Lotus_

In a little twist of fate, when the Kusari arrived in the Sirius sector, they found that the planet they selected was much like their old home, Japan. New Tokyo is a world of gentle oceans and island chains. Much like their ancestors, the Kusari made do with the land they had, and built as economically yet aesthetically pleasing as possible; constructed huge graceful skyscrapers, fitting as many people as they could into a single location, using the latest technology that Kusari could reverse engineer and get away with.

All of this could not have been done, at least in the view of many in the Kusari government, without the strong rulership of a Shogun, who could lead and direct Kusari towards a bright and shining future. It was now this Shogun, one Gendo Masamune who was now listening to his 'advisors' from throughout the Empire.

"This can only be bad news for us my Lord," replied one Ozu Samura, Samura's current President, "Already those Liberty gaijin have a poisonous influence amongst the youth. The youth want change, and some already suspect that they may eventually wish oust you completely, change things such that you are merely ceremony, like the Emperors of old."

"Then how can a bunch of aliens worsen things for us?" asked Shogun Masamune incredulously, "They speak not our language, and most definitely know not of our culture. They are more gaijin than even Liberty. I do not see how Agent Roku's report could possibly come true."

"It is exactly because they are so alien that they may gain a toehold here. The young are fascinated by what is new and different. To see something so alien, instilling and even encouraging ideas and values that are not Kusari…"

"Could only weaken us by making the youth forget their past." the Shogun gravely replied. "Assuming that they are peaceful, then we likely cannot wage war upon them. The other colonies would most definitely disapprove of that action. What do you think we should do?"

"My lord, I believe that the best thing we can do is to… better fund Samura and Kishiro." Ozu painfully admitted, " Even with Samura's great labs and resources, we admittedly, do not have the… expertise Kishiro has in these situations when it comes to reverse engineering."

Masamune could clearly see the discomfort that admission caused Ozu, and incidentally the great smile on the face of Yoshi Kishiro, the current president of Kishiro Technologies. "As much as I would like to keep this within Kusari. I cannot see a situation here where we can feasibly fund you. As I'm sure you know, our… support of the Gas Mining Guild, has cost us dearly in their war against Rhineland. We may not be feeling it too badly, but for something of this scale… we cannot possibly fund this."

"Then who can we go to for funding? We can't go to Bretonnia, they are much too close to the aliens, and we trust not their monarch. Rhineland actively distrusts us and has nothing to offer anyway. Liberty would likely help, but we would be selling our own children in the process." Yoshi replied back gravely.

Masamune gave this much thought. Was it better to go into the unknown with someone you hated at your side, or alone?

"Gentlemen, it is better to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don't. We must therefore go to the devil we all know." he said , seeing the widening eyes of the people before him. "I decree that Kishiro and Samura must work with Liberty to help protect us against the alien gaijin." he finished imperiously.

Though the various executives before him were quite visibly disgusted by it, they could only mumble a "As you wish My Lord." before gracefully leaving the room.


	7. Chapter 7

Tau 30 system  
Battleship Stirling  
Conference Room

"So it's decided then," Captain T'Loni started, "we have ourselves a trade agreement, and each of our companies may trade basic goods and services, these include but not limited to, food, water, raw materials, and basic alloys." a good start for any sort of first contact really, "In exchange, The Kingdom of Bretonnia agrees to contact the other Houses of the Sirius systems regarding this first contact." better they give the message than we do, "At a later date, to be determined by the Sirius Houses, representatives of the four houses will meet and negotiate with Citadel representatives regarding the inclusion of the four Houses into the Citadel on the Planet Curacao in the Cortez system." and give us that beautiful technology of theirs "In the meantime, a representative of my ship, to be chosen by me, shall be granted leave to explore the Sirius systems with an escort to be chosen by the Bretonnian government. Do you agree to all these conditions?"

"I, Lord Edward Barstow, First Cousin to King Alexander I, Count of Ashtonbury, Official Ambassador to these talks, agree to these conditions." he said calmly, as he signed the documents, one in English and the other in Thessian.

"Excellent, we look forward to an especially bright future ahead of us, Lord Barstow." finished Dala confidently. With such a treaty, these humans were opening the doors to Citadel influence. Surely, with the doubtless millennia of experience we have, we can surely leverage a treaty that would favour the Citadel, especially with the fact that these Humans seemed to be rather fractured. It should be easy pickings for whatever Matriarch they send in to negotiate at this Curacao place.

"Capital. I look forward to meeting and promptly escorting your selected representative. We have just the man for her to be escorted by as well." replied Barstow jovially. It'd mean a job for Perkins, well enough out of sight, all while learning about these Asari. A win for the BAF, for picking up intel, and a win for Perkins for the credits we would be paying him. Everyone wins.

* * *

Tau 30 system  
Battleship Stirling  
Docking Bay

"Dr. D'Avo, I think you are the most qualified person from those among us here to explore these Sirius systems." she said, taking note to keep her voice calm and collected.

"What?" she replied disbelievingly, "How? I'm just an archaeologist. I'm not trained in diplomacy or any of those things that I imagine you need." babbled Aela. She was just a humble archaeologist in a mission she wasn't trained for at all!

"But you are trained in understanding other cultures and languages. You can pick up on the tiny cultural nuances that I imagine many of us here would completely miss." countered Captain T'Loni.  
"Besides, you will be going in with an escort. Lord Barstow is personally picking one of his people to escort you as you explore these Sirius systems." she said, trying to reassure the panicking doctor.

"But-"

"No buts here Dr. D'Avo." she replied, putting that steely captain's voice to use, "This is something too important for us to miss. I cannot go because I have to brief the Council on the events that transpired here. You are the next best thing, having translated the human language and interacted with them on occasion." she finished.

Aela could only sigh. She didn't really expect to be caught up so heavily in this. She just wanted to study a new species that was most probably extinct. Right now, she would've settled for going back to her apartment on Thessia and snuggle up in her bed with a nice Illium red. "Yes ma'am." she replied dejectedly, "I'll do my best."

"Excellent," replied Captain T'Loni, sounding cool and confident, "pack what you need, and we'll see about upgrading that omni-tool of yours to handle the I expect rather large amounts of data you will be collecting. Follow me."

As Aela followed Captain T'Loni, she couldn't help but feel that the next few weeks would be a most… memorable time in her life. Probably something that would seriously make her consider settling down earlier.

* * *

Tau 30 system

Battleship Stirling  
Briefing Room

"So this is it then?" Perkins coolly replied, "I've been honourably discharged, sir? Left to my own devices, roam the galaxy, make my own fortune and all that?"

"Yes indeed Perkins." jovially replied Captain Dunbar, "That isn't to say that we haven't done you any favours. Look, we've outfitted your Crusader with some of the finest weapons Bretonia has to offer, even loaded you up with a full armament of torpedoes, mind you!" he cheerily continued. "We've even gotten you your own Freelancer license all ready to go. You're all set for your brand new and exciting career! Furthermore, Lord Barstow has a job just waiting for you." he finished with a slight smirk on his face.

"Oh? Does it involve me taking on some Corsair base all alone with no backup for a ludicrous amount of pay, sir?" Perkins calmly replied, yet the snark was clear in his tone.

"Nothing of the sort! It involves a ludicrous amount of pay to babysit some representative of the aliens as she explores the space in the Sirius systems." he continued "Naturally that mean that she will be visiting New London, and despite how diplomatically important this is, we can't afford the Stirling to be too far away from Leeds for too long." he replied apologetically, "So, you'll be her… bodyguard, so to speak."

"Just how much is Lord Barstow offering for a job like this?" inquired Perkins.

"500,000 credits." Dunbar quickly replied.

Perkins just looked at Dunbar as if he just grew a second head or decided to retire to Leeds. You didn't just get fired then get handed a deal like this. "There has to be a catch here sir. 500,000 credits for a babysitting job? "Perkins replied disbelievingly.

"There is no catch here. We'll give you half up front for your personal use plus another 300,000 for any expenses she may incur while under your protection. Which I imagine she'll use up once she visits Manhattan." he continued, calmly outlying the details of the payment to Perkins.

Perkins just couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had effectively been fired from his old job, only to be offered a new one by the people who fired him to go do the easiest job he'd ever heard of while being offered what he would essentially make in a couple of years for a few weeks worth of babysitting.

He didn't like the situation one bit. His gut told him that this could lead only to interesting times, in the ancient Chinese sense. Still… it was a lot of credits, and it wasn't like he had many alternatives.

"I'll take the job, sir." he grudgingly replied.

"Excellent, I'll upload the credits into your neural net. We expect you'll keep her safe, Perkins. She'll ride co-pilot with you on your Crusader." replied Dunbar, keeping up that annoyingly cheeky tone of his.

At that, all Perkins wanted was to take advantage of the drinks his lads owed him in the bar. He most certainly could use them.

* * *

Tau 30 System  
Battleship Stirling  
Recreation Bay "The Old Shanty"

Dr. Aela D'Avo has had much better days. Most notably back on Thessia, working in her nice comfortable office, though she was now really starting to regret not taking up something more traditional like economics or software development. It was thanks to her stupid archaeology doctorate that she got assigned exploring this unknown area full of aliens. She grudgingly admitted were exotically beautiful in their own strangely familiar way, but that wasn't something that should so easily win her over. Especially considering her surroundings.

According to her current guide, one Ensign Smith, her escort would be found here with his flight mates celebrating. He was apparently one of the members of the flight that fended off the Mollies. She could most definitely hear the carousing that a large group were doing near what looked like a bar counter.

"To Commander Perkins! May you do well in that cakewalk of yours, then retire nice and comfy eh?" roared one of the men, a rather familiar one too… was that Thatch?

"Hear hear!" roared the rest of the flight, as they downed whatever alcoholic beverage they were drinking. She figured one of them, possibly even Thatch or Commander Perkins himself, would be escorting her throughout the systems, so she politely coughed loudly to grab their attention.

"Oi! It's one of 'em Asari ladies! What's she doing here?" one of them drunkenly shouted.

"Shut it Lincoln!" shouted the one man she was most familiar with, Commander Perkins, "Mind your manners here. We've ourselves the equivalent of a Lady here, so at your best manners gents." he commanded with that voice Aela guessed came naturally to leaders.

"Yes suh!" replied the men, having placed their drinks down to stand at attention. This was a man who knew how to make use of that voice.

"Hello... Commander," Aela hesitatingly spoke, "I'm here looking for the person who would escort me in my travels."

"Ah! That bit of business." said Perkins, clearly a little tipsy from the drinks he had. " Right lads and ladies!" he said turning back to his men, "It's been an honour leading you all through the valley of death, so on and so forth. Thatch you blighty bastard, you take care of the men you hear?" he jovially responded.

"Right O' sir!" Thatch replied, raising his own drink "To the Commander!"

"To the Commander!" roared the rest of the flight, then they all promptly downed the rest of their drink.

"Thank you lads and ladies. Good Flying!" he then turned his attention back to Aela.

"Sorry about that there," he said sincerely, "The lads were toasting my early retirement."

"Early retirement? I thought you would be escorting me throughout the Sirius systems?" she asked, her confusion rather evident in her face.

"No need to worry ma'am." he said reassuringly, "This simply means that I've retired from the military. They handed me a ship, a full load, and enough supplies to go where I want. I'm a Freelancer now!" he jovially replied.

"A what now?" she asked.

"Freelancer! I work whatever jobs I want, whenever I want." he jovially replied. "Anything from bounty hunting to trading, it's all open to me. The Galaxy is now my Oyster!" he replied, a little too happily for Aela's taste. "My first job is to infact be your assigned escort! Given by Lord Barstow himself in fact!"

"Oh." was all she could say in reply. At least it was someone she was somewhat familiar with. Though it make sense when Aela thought about it. One couldn't just have a military officer flying around outside his nation, that would spark a diplomatic incident. A mercenary on the other hand, wouldn't bat too many eyes. A minor technicality, but a practical one, Aela conceded.

"Oh indeed madam. Anyways, we'll be taking off in a moments when we go through the Leeds system via the Stirling here. From there, we'd be on our own." he replied as if it was the most natural thing to happen.

"Nothing too special I understand." he continued, "we'll take off when the Stirling hits orbit around Leeds, then we go take off and we should hit New London by brekkie, and we'll have you a nice Bretonian breakfast before you meet with the King. Meanwhile, take a seat and enjoy the view, we're going to enter the Jumpgate soon."

That got Aela's attention, she would soon be entering uncharted space, wIth such advanced technology, surely whatever was on the other side would be something she would never forget. She quickly took a seat by the window, hoping to get a really good look at both travelling through a wormhole and what the Human systems would look like.

As the Stirling approached the Jumpgate, Aela started to get this feeling of just how huge the thing was. As the arms extended, she could clearly see the arms easily enveloping the entire length of the Stirling. it may have been no Citadel, but the fact that these Humans built something like this… Truly they must be masters of engineering to accomplish such a feat.

Soon enough, the increasingly familiar wormhole appeared in the center of the gate. It's entrancing white glow as a pattern of lights danced before her, clearly in the center of the anomaly. Aela could have watched the lights dance there forever.

And then there were only lights. The entire ship was surrounded in it, and Goddess, she could see they were in a tunnel of light. They were traveling through a wormhole! The first Asari to do so, and just the lights! She could stare at the tunnel and it's entrancing white center forever.

"It never gets old." sighed Perkins contentedly beside her.

If even the Humans could never get tired of this, then surely there could only be more wonders for her to experience in Sirius space. She could just look at the entrancingly blue of the tunnel that seemed to converge on a ever growing white center that they were approaching.

Soon enough, they reached the literal light at the end of the tunnel, and Aela saw a sight she would never forget.


	8. Chapter 8

Leeds System, Kingdom of Bretonia  
Battleship Stirling  
Recreational Bay "The Old Shanty"

Brown. The entire system was varying shades of brown. Aela had never seen so much of the colour in space. In fact, as far as she knew, this was supposed to be impossible. "How?" was all she could muster to respond.

"Most of it was a result of early Bretonia, you know." Perkins casually explained, "What you are seeing is the results of centuries of industrialization."

"You mean-"

"Yes. You are looking at the largest smog clouds in the Sirius systems. I would've said galaxy a few days ago, but I've no way of knowing that now." he said apologetically, as if he didn't know the full extent of what Aela was seeing.

"How?" was all Aela could repeat after a brief moment of silence. How could any one species create this much pollution? 

"Centuries of industrialization I suppose. The Bretonnia was the last of the colony ships to land, and we ended up with the most resource poor area of Sirius. Leeds was the closest system with a good number of resources to New London, so logically, after the initial colony was established on New London, BMM was given carte blanche to do whatever they wanted with the system, so long as it could help Bretonnia. There are hundreds of abandoned refineries and mining stations in this system and thousands of orbital manufacturing centers around Leeds. I can better explain once we go in orbit of Leeds itself." he replied, keeping his casually contented tone of voice.

She could only wordlessly nod, and sit, silently watching the nebulae of smog drift by. Just… How?

She then noticed the Stirling approach a strange set of platforms just casually drifting in space. Then a sort of white ring of energy, somewhat similar to what she saw in action earlier in the Jumpgate appeared, and she could see it just getting closer and closer.

Then, the light just became one long tunnel of light again, but this time, she could see the space around her. She could see how the smog clouded even the sun of this system, and in the distance, she could see one refinery near a small planetoid, belching out great amounts of smog, all of it speedily passing by. "What-"

"It's a trade lane." Perkins interrupted, sensing the question she was about to ask, "Don't quite know exactly it works, but it basically brings the ship to FTL speeds, allowing us to get from one end of the system to the other pretty quickly."

So they had no FTL on their ships? Or perhaps their engines could only bring them up to light speed itself? She was no physicist or engineer, so she really had no idea how. Still though… that they had such an understanding of physics that they could manufacture their own wormholes, yet have a comparatively slow engine? It made little sense to her.

As the Stirling exited the trade lane, since the view she got on the window visibly slowed, Aela got a close up look of one of the space born refineries that Perkins mentioned. It was a massive ugly thing, with huge plumes of smoke coming out of its massive smokestacks, probably refining some rare minerals of some sort. She felt like she was staring at some incredibly crude construct, belching out its meal.

"That's Stokes Mining Station, oldest continuously running mining and refinery in all of the Colonies." Perkins said, clearly deciding to play tour guide to Aela, "she's been providing raw and basic materials to Bretonia and Kusari for centuries." he finished, a little pride in his voice.

Centuries. That… thing had been operating for centuries, belching who knows what into the system. They managed to create artificial nebulae from their industrial output alone? In mere centuries? No one in the Citadel could even feasibly find a way to perform such a feat of stellar engineering, and yet to do it as a mere byproduct of their industry alone? For a single system to have done this, even with the most efficient means possible, it would surely have required nearly the entire output of the factories of all three Citadel species to perform an equal amount of production. Even if this system isn't producing at it's peak, she could easily imagine it capable of outproducing at least one or two of the Council member species and the Volus. 

Soon enough though, the Stirling went through another one of these Trade Lanes, quickly bringing the ship to the Planet Leeds.

From orbit alone, Aela could see what looked like massive smog clouds forming in the atmosphere of the planet. Aela couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like to live down there. What sort of… nightmarish conditions do these humans live in as they doubtlessly worked in what she imagined were hundreds of thousands of factories and mines, producing countless millions of tons of products.

"Planet Leeds, 3.3 billion people live on that planet alone, another 200 million if you count the people in orbital facilities, working in everything from refineries to mines on that planet, all of it fueling the ever growing demand for Bretonnian products. " Perkins lectured, pride still strong in his voice. "See those two rings there?" he pointed out to two rather distinct rings, rather much like the Jumpgates, but much smaller, "Those are Docking rings, we use those to maintain a clear corridor to land in the planet. You can't just land or take off from any point on our planets, there are far too many orbital facilities and trash for it to be done safely." he cautioned. "Anyways you'll get a better look see in a bit. We're going to go take off, and I'll do a quick flyby so we can satisfy that curiosity of yours, eh?" he said rather far too cheerily for Aela's taste. How could one be so cheery in the face of… this? "If you could kindly follow me to the Docking bay, we'll go visit your new home away from home" he said as he motioned her to follow him with his hand. 

"Yes." she said, "Please, lead the way." she would much rather try to take her mind off the disturbing implications of what she just saw. 

_  
Battleship Stirling  
Docking Bay

Aela got herself a good look at what Perkins said would become something like her second home. It was definitely one of the ships that had taken on the Mollies, with its distinctive aquatic animal look.

"Meet the BA-907F Heavy Fighter Crusader!" Perkins exclaimed proudly, "Born from the great minds in both the BAF and Cambridge, this here is 20 tons of the finest Bretonia has to offer! This particular model has been modified to hold a copilot seat, for My Lady of course," he said with a flourish and a bow towards Aela," and has been outfitted with a Torpedo launcher, Mine layer, the latest in countermeasure technology, and finally, my personal choice of main weaponry, with three Skyrails and three Rippers, all primed for maximum amounts of lethality!" he finished, clearly proud of his machine.

She honestly had no idea if this was well equipped for Human standards, but by Citadel ones, based on the battle earlier, she was pretty sure a fully armed Crusader could quite feasibly take on a Citadel frigate, and maybe just barely win.

"Please," he said, as he gestured toward the open cockpit, "climb in, I'm right behind you."

Aela could only silently gulp, as she steadily climbed up into the cockpit of the Crusader.

It was something kind of familiar to her. Surprisingly enough, these Humans still seemed to make generous use of what looked like analogue equipment for one thing, she could see something that resembled a keyboard on one side and a joystick on the other. She could also make out a few other displays, likely displaying some sort of information that she couldn't figure out. It was also pleasantly roomy inside, with enough space for her to stand up and walk a bit.

"Right," said Perkins as he entered the cockpit, "This is our home away from home for the foreseeable future." he said, waving his arm about, "This here, is as I'm sure you've figured out the cockpit, the one on the left is main, and the one on the right is yours. " he said as he pointed at each of the seats, "You are strictly a passenger on this flight, so pending any horrible accident, don't expect me to teach you how to fly this thing." he said jokingly. Goddess, Aela hoped she wouldn't need to fly this. She had enough trouble flying an aircar, what more with something like this?

"Here,take this," said Perkins as he tossed a suit and helmet her way, "It's one size fits all, so you should do fine. The suit and helmet should help keep you alive in the highly unlikely event we have to bail out." he said jokingly. She wasn't sure if that was a topic to be joked about, but she put on the suit nonetheless. It was quite light, and very snug in a comfortable manner. She was reminded a little too much of some of her more… risqué Maidenhood exploits. Then she put on the quite heavy helmet. She could hear some air moving about, likely a seal of some sort. then she noticed her visor had a HUD on it. "I'm pretty sure you don't have any implants that are compatible with the helmet," Perkins continued to explain, "so I've taken the liberty of putting the helmet on visor HUD mode. It should be showing you some of the more relevant data you would doubtless want to know to ease your mind, and to help me as a co-pilot, speed, shield, hull and energy levels, etc. In combat, it'll be best if you keep an eye on those and remind me of it." he said seriously, "a co-pilot can save lives, especially an attentive one."

"Of course." Aela said, after gulping a bit. She really hoped she wouldn't need to do any of that.

"Right then. Red bar is hull, blue is shield, yellow is energy. The number by the circle is for the number of auxiliary shield batteries we have left, the grey bar tells you how many liters of emergency repair nanobots we have left." Pekins continued, "Now please, do sit down, I'm going to do some pre-flight checks then we'll take off and head for New London." she promptly did so, and tried to relax a bit, and take in what she could see. 

The ship was certainly well kept, though everything was rough in appearance, it was quite clean and probably well maintained. This fighter didn't have a… lived in feel, as if it needed to prove its worth some more, but it had earned some details, a little splash of what she assumed was non regulation colour, a very vivid shade of crimson, by the left side. On it she could see a few marks, ten golden mining picks were on that wall, perhaps a list of the kills he made? 

"Everything is ready for launch. Please stay quiet as I obtain the necessary flight clearance." Perkins steadily commanded.

"This is Freelancer Hotel four dash zero to Battleship Stirling, requesting permission for liftoff." 

"This is Flight Control, you're cleared for take-off. Good flying."

"Thanks Flight Control. Take care of Thatch and the lads."

"Yes sir." replied Flight control.

"Right then." replied Perkins, "Time to show you the wonders of Bretonnia." he said, as he pressed a few buttons on his dashboard, and then suddenly the ship was moving. Slowly, gently, Perkins maneuvered his ship towards the doors, using clean, well-practiced movements to nudge the ship in the right direction. Then the ship came to a stop, and a pair of doors closed behind them, probably the airlock. Then the door below them opened, and Aela could see that they were on the bottom of the Stirling, one of it's massive turrets mere meters away from her. She imagined it could easily destroy a frigate in one volley.

"Engaging cruise engines. Let's give you a quick close-up of Leeds on the way to the Trade Lane eh?" Perkins cheeringly told Aela as he gently nudged the ship towards the Docking rings.

"We're now close enough for you to see the Space Lifts. Can you see it? It's by that mooring platform above the Docking ring." he pointed out.

"Yes I can see it." and she wa pretty sure she could see other elevators as well. Multiple space elevators on one planet? As far as she knew, no planet in Citadel had one, let alone several of these

.

"Right. Some ships are simply too big, or too bulky to go back into atmo." he said casually, trying to keep things calm and relaxed. "So we use those to transport goods down onto the surface or as a staging area for freighters to go pick up goods to bring to the facilities orbiting the planet. I'm sure you can see the traffic from here, clogged as always." 

Indeed, Aela could make out large numbers of bulky ships, all going in and out of various orbiting facilities she could make out, some even went towards the mooring platform, towards some of the huge train-like ships over there now.

"There is always a ship doing traffic of sorts around orbit of Leeds here you know. From here, they go everywhere, from New Tokyo to New Berlin, these goods always have somewhere to go." he said casually as he directed them back towards one of the Trade Lanes, where even now, Aela could see many dozens of ships, particularly the long train like ones, were approaching. "Don't worry, we should be fine. The traffic in the trade lane is still perfectly manageable." he said, trying to make sure Aela was as comfortable as possible.

"You know…" Perkins said, as they gradually approached the Trade Lane, his hands casually at the back of his head, likely the ship was on autopilot, "I never did get your name." he said quite apologetically. "For that I'm quite sorry, and at the same time you have me at a disadvantage. Let's introduce ourselves again shall we?"

"Okay." Aela shyly said, she wasn't too comfortable with revealing her name to Perkins, but since they would be working together for quite some time it would only make sense to do so. "I'm Dr. Aela D'Avo, of the University of Thessia. I'm a… discoverer of the past?"

"An academic," Perkins said, as if he was completely expecting this, "I figured you for the type, kind of nervous, taking great big looks at everything, and very quiet when someone is lecturing. And I do believe the word you are looking for is archaeologist. You studied ancient cultures and all that?" 

"Indeed." she said, slowly getting more comfortable, "I specialized in Prothean culture and language, which was why I was originally assigned to investigate your Jumpgate in the... Tau 30 system you called it?" she said a little hesitatingly. It would be embarrassing to forget the name of a system where such a momentous occasion happened. 

"Yes, though please do go on." Perkins said a little encouragingly.

"We thought it was some ancient alien device," Aela continued, "so they decided to send in an expert…"

"Only it turns out it was completely unrelated." Perkins finished, "Don't worry Aela, may I call you Aela?"

"I'd prefer it if you did Commander." Aela replied, a little more lively

"And I'd prefer it if you just called me Perkins, Aela." Perkins replied, with a little smirking twinkle in his eyes. 

"Alright then Perkins. So, how long to New London?" she asked curiously. She wondered what their capital world would be like. It must surely be unlike this… Leeds place.

"It'll be maybe a half hour till we get there, so sit back and relax. This thing flies itself unless we get into a scrap." Perkins replied, visibly relaxing and laying back in his seat.

Aela saw that she had quite a lot of time till they reached New London, so she decided to start writing down notes on her Omnitool. She had start with her report, she figured that it would only get much much longer.

New London System, Kingdom of Bretonia  
Near the New London - Leeds Jumpgate

The first thing Aela noticed after the jump through the wormhole was that space was a rather normal shade of black again.

The second thing she noticed was the huge field of debris just to her right. What had happened here? The after effects of some battle, kept around as a memorial perhaps?

"I see you've noticed the Southampton debris field," said Perkins, still a little pride in his voice, "that there is the result of early Bretonian industry. Centuries worth of discarded ship parts, from engines to plain hulls, anything that wasn't deemed useful was thrown out by the Southampton shipyards, which we will see in a bit by the way," he said, as if she was worried about missing some sort of monument. "All of this was a result of early Bretonia expanding her fleet at any and all costs. When I said earlier that BMM had carte blanche, I really meant that they could do just about anything short of replacing the King." finished Perkins as he directed their ship towards a Trade Lane.

To think, this field, this giant… junkyard was created by a single nation? Goddess, imagine what they could learn just by investigating these ruins. She imagined that even an old outdated engine of the Humans would have thousands of lessons to teach to even the finest of Salarian scientists. 

"Gotta be careful around that field though," said Perkins, as he visibly tensed up clearly expecting trouble of some sort. "Corsairs use the combination of radiation from the discarded engines and the debris field itself to mask their presence. They often hit the trade lanes around the entire system." he finished.

"But isn't this your capital?" Aela asked, a little confused. Pirates were able to strike this deep into their territory?

"New London is indeed the seat of our government, from the administration to the military." Perkins replied.

"Then why don't you just… hunt these Pirates down?" she said. It was common sense, when pirates got bad, the military was sent to hunt them down. Yes they can hide for a while, but surely it couldn't take that long to destroy a rag-tag team of pirates?

"I think you severely underestimate the size of space Aela." Perkins countered, his tone quite serious. "We've patrolled these debris and asteroid fields for years, always searching for any sign of pirate activity. It's very easy to convert an asteroid into a space station, or make use of one of the many abandoned stations throughout the area as temporary staging posts. Space is mind bogglingly big, and there are many places to set up a base. We've yet to find any active illegal bases in the area, save Trafalgar, but we have an understanding with the Junkers." he said, a little embarrassed.

"Junkers?" Aela asked. What kind of name was that?

"A group of people who just salvage the debris fields for scrap metal and components. They then go on and sell these to BMM or whoever wants them," he replied. "We are also sure that they smuggle in certain… unpleasant objects through their stations. Criminals love to go there and use it as a neutral zone of sorts," he finished as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "We let them operate, they throw us a bone when it comes to apprehending a particular scoundrel or two." 

Aela wasn't quite sure what to make of that. The world wasn't quite black and white like what many of the Justicars would think, but… it sounded like these Junkers were rather like Ilium. There, just about anything was legal, despite it being frowned upon in the rest of Citadel space. They even practiced slavery under the label, 'indentured servitude'. Perhaps these Humans weren't so different after all?

"I'd rather apprehend them too, but this is all for the greater good," Perkins said as he saw Aela's face slowly scrunch in disapproval. "We've caught more than our fair share of criminals who were hiding out on a Junker station because they handed them over to us. Those arrests often lead to more information as to where to find the bastards," Perkins said a little righteously, but then his face drooped again. "We're pretty sure now that the pirates are coming in from Jumpholes within the fields. They are practically beyond our reach now," he said, the disappointment deep in his voice. "But enough about that," he said suddenly after a bit of silence, "lets not dwell on such unpleasant topics. I'm supposed to be your tour guide throughout the colonies after all," he said, his voice trying to be a little happy, just as the ship exited the Trade Lane. 

Aela guessed these must be the Southampton Shipyards. A massive Space station that drifted in the middle of the system, clearly designed for one thing; the production of even more ships. She'd never seen such an enormous station created by a sentient species in what looked like the middle of nowhere. She was pretty sure, judging from one rather large shell in one of the bays, that they were also building a new Dreadnaught. She has seen some shipyards before, but never one so massive. She was confident that this single shipyard could build three Dreadnoughts at the same time, while still retaining the ability to construct smaller ships. Though there was something that was nagging her. Perkins mentioned Jumpholes as the source of the pirates. What were they? She was about to ask Perkins when he suddenly started to talk.

"Aye, she's a beauty isn't she," Perkins proudly proclaimed, seeing the curiosity in Aela's eyes. "The Southampton Shipyards have been producing ships for almost as long as there has been a Bretonia. Over 10,000 people live on that station permanently, and over 100,000 people work there, all towards building the future of the Bretonian Navy. I'm sure you can see the new Battleship, under construction too. She'll be the one replacing the Hood." he said as he directed the ship towards another Trade Lane. "We'll be at New London in a few minutes now," he said, a little bit of excitedly with a hint of childishness. "I'm going home and meeting the King! It's practically every boy's dream come true." 

She understood excitement at meeting the most influential man in the government, and going home, she herself was starting to miss Thessia, but she wasn't quite sure what to make of the youthful exuberance. "I'm not quite sure why you would dream of meeting the King since your childhood. Why?" Aela asked.

"I wasn't nobility you know, back on New London. Was practically a pauper there. Not by colonial standards mind you, but by New London I was. Parents were a bunch of bureaucrats for some government department regarding titles I do believe. Worked hard all my life to try and get into the Military Academy, and even then, I had to compete with my betters. Did well enough, not bad for a pauper boy, and never destined for greatness like some of my other mates at the academy. Now I get to have an audience with his majesty himself, thanks to you," he said, genuine gratitude in his voice.

She… honestly didn't know what to make of that.

Soon enough, the ship exited the Trade Lane, and Aela got a good look at New London. It seemed so… cloudy. Not smog, but actual natural clouds. She could make out glimpses of a continent or two, and she definitely caught glimpses of a rather large ocean as well. It seemed like an unusually cloudy, but otherwise normal, garden world.

What caught her interest though was the sheer number of orbital facilities she could make out. There were hundreds of little stations, some of them even had what looked like great glass domes, likely for parks or something. Then there was the huge station, dwarfing the others. She'd never seen so many facilities orbiting any one planet, let alone this massive station. It wasn't on the scale of the Citadel, but considering these Humans definitely made it… She was starting to think these Humans had a rather healthy love of space.

"That's Waterloo station," Perkins said, continuing to play the tour guide. "Basically... the Foreign Corporate hub of Bretonia. All the foreign companies have set up local headquarters there, though everyone knows that's really an Interspace Commerce station, one of Liberty's three biggest corporations. They're basically the guys who insure all shipping throughout the Houses. From Oxygen to Gold, these guys will insure your cargo. Anyways, we'll be landing shortly, so please be quiet while I talk to the Docking authorities." 

Aela was starting to get an image that these Liberty folk were a lot like the Volus. Very good with money, and very good with making a good trade. She was sure they would get along swimmingly.

"This is Freelancer Hotel four dash zero, requesting permission to dock."

"This is Planet New London Traffic Control, you are clear to dock in bay four."

Aela kept her eyes clearly glued towards the window. As the ship got closer to the planet, she could see that Perkins was subtly turning the ship, directing it towards wherever it was they were going. Then they hit the atmosphere and she couldn't see anything but cloud

Suddenly, they broke through the cloud barrier, and Aela could hear the rain dash against the ship as it descended towards a city of brownish-grey skyscrapers, with the occasional dash of brilliant color: a neon sign here, a giant stained glass window there. This was, despite the gloomy weather, a city that looked to be full of life.

Soon enough, Perkins approached a rather flat looking area, probably a landing pad, and then engaged what he said was called the gravimetric gears, a landing gear of sorts probably. Perkins didn't contact any other authorities, so Aela figured this one must have been assigned to them in adva- Wait. Perkins just called his landing gear gravimetrics. Surely he's not talking about true gravity or mass manipulation. That's just not possible. Everyone knows you need eezo to do that. Perhaps an error in translation?

Right?

"Come on," said Perkins as he stood up, "best get dressed and all that." He removed his helmet and proceeded to go towards the ladder.

Aela followed suit, taking care to leave the helmet on her seat, and set foot on a Human world for the first time. 

Aela's first impression of New London could be summarized very neatly in one word. Wet. If a planet could smell wet, yet not as wet as a jungle, New London was probably it. As she and Perkins raced towards one of the many buildings nearby, she didn't think that this sort of rain would stop anytime soon. When they got in, Aela could recognize the tell tale signs of a cargo room. Huge containers, a couple of people, nothing much else in sight. 

"Well," said Perkins, panting a little. "You've gotten but a taste of New London's weather. If it isn't raining, it's foggy, and often it can be both. You just caught it on a merely rainy day," he said as he dusted his suit of water and walked towards a door. "Come on, might as well get you all cleaned up before meeting the King. We're going to my place."

Islington, New London  
New London System 

It took Aela and Perkins a few minutes to get to the apartment. They had to take a monorail to get to his building and she got a few looks from what few locals were around, but they didn't approach or gawk like she expected. "Why aren't they… shocked or surprised?" Aela asked quietly.

"There is a visiting Liberty convention full of the latest and greatest in media Liberty has to offer," Perkins whispered. "All the kids from across Bretonia are dressing up in a costume of some sort and heading towards the convention center. You look fairly human, minus the blue skin and the tentacles, so they probably think it's just a rather well made costume for some show or game they never touched or even heard about." 

So Humans dressed up to emulate a fictional character or species? For what purpose? Prestige? A form of admiration? Imitating something is a sign that its good, so Aela figured it was the latter, though it could also be some way of attracting a date.

Still, as the train approached the next stop, which Perkins said was theirs, Aela couldn't help but ask Perkins, "Why would someone dress up as a fictional character?"

"Many reasons really," Perkins said as they both stepped off the train, "Some cosplayers do it because they simply love the show. They want to be the characters they loved," he said cheerily. "Some do it because its a job to them, it's a good paycheck and publicity," he continued as they approached one building. "Finally, some just do it for the fun of it," he finished simply as he typed in something on a keypad and motioned for Aela to go in.

Aela entered and got her first glimpse of what she guessed was the typical Bretonian way of decorating a building. Tall arched windows graced the taller parts of the lobby, each of them covered in stained glass, causing the room to have a rather muted and surprisingly somber atmosphere. The floors were left rather barren, just a rather muted dark, well polished metal. The walls were rather the same, but in-between a window or two lay the occasional rather bestial mix of human, and she guessed animal, statues. Just what were they? Were they mythical beasts or demon? What was it all for? A reminder of their… purpose? To emphasize the rather dark atmosphere? The entire lobby felt as if she were being judged, and should be very very quiet as they walked toward what she suspected were the elevators. 

Aela most definitely did not expect stairs. Especially up to the 5th and top floor. So it was rather understandable that she was panting a bit once they were up top.  
"Yeah, it is quite a walk." Perkins apologized. "I remember back in the Academy, I'd end up walking up those stairs drunk and it was the absolute worst." he said, laughing a bit. 

She would rather not imagine her doing this drunk but she could imagine that someone more physically fit like Perkins wouldn't find it as much as an issue. While she was rather more physically fit than your average academic due to her field experience, she felt she was rather lacking in her fitness, at least compared to some of her colleagues. Perhaps she should start exercising more, especially since she had this strange feeling that crime would become a bigger problem in the future.

"So anyways," said Perkins as he opened the door to his apartment. "Welcome to my humble abode."

Aela was starting to get a better feel for these Humans. It seemed that they kept their private and public decorations very different from each other. On one side of the room, tall and wide arched windows dominated, letting in what little natural light there was into the apartment. On another side, a massive screen dominated the wall, and a couch was facing it. Opposite the windows was what she assumed was the kitchen, seeing what looked like a stove and a fridge there. She couldn't help but feel that this apartment wasn't well used though. There was far too much dust on the floor.

"I don't really stay here often. Not anymore anyways. Work took me everywhere but here. Parents gave it to me as a gift before heading off to the Academy," Perkins said as he motioned for Aela to follow him as he went towards one of the doors.

She could recognize a bathroom when she saw one. Toilet, sink, shower, all there. It seemed that with a species that resembled the Asari a lot, it made sense they would share a lot of similarities when it came to hygiene. 

"Right, I imagine you madam would like to freshen up and the like. Set your bag down and I'll let you do your womanly thing." He said as he moved toward the shower. "Move the handle left for hot water, right for cold. Pull towards you for stronger water," he explained. "I'll leave you be now, I'll just watch the telly outside. Let me know if you need anything else."

The shower was unsurprisingly normal. Water was water, wherever you went in the galaxy, and for such a technologically advanced civilization, these Humans still kept cleaning simple with the use of the shower. Some things just can't be improved on Aela figured as she dried herself off.

The dress she brought for her eventual meeting with the king wasn't actually hers to begin with. She hadn't expected to need to dress in such a manner when she was recruited on to the ship. Captain T'Loni actually had to lend her one of her own dresses since they were roughly of the same measurements. It was a simple white thing with a few violet lines that vaguely reminded her of what the Consort's assistants on the Citadel would wear; a simple white thing that hugged her in the right places, and flowed everywhere else. It was a typical and simple Asari dress, not some Illium billionaire's dress, but still, Aela hoped it wouldn't offend anyone..

So when Aela stepped out, she most certainly did not expect to see Perkins sitting on the couch and wearing a brilliant red coat with some gold… things hanging on his shoulders. Coupled with the gold buttons and the white pants he looked quite handsome in an alienly fierce way. It made her feel like her dress was rather plain. That made it a little disturbing to see him so quiet and staring at her, his mouth drooping slightly. "Is something wrong?" she replied worriedly. It wouldn't do at all to meet the King and shock them all into silence because she was so offensive. 

"No…" Perkins replied after a worrying moment of silence. "It's nothing." He looked back at the screen, which appeared to be showing a news report of sorts.

"Breaking news," the reporter, one that looked a lot like an Asari, Aela guessed she was a female, said. "The HMS Stirling has reported encountering intelligent alien life. We are not alone. More details at Six."

"That's after your big meeting," said Perkins worriedly as he stood up and turned off the screen with a remote. "Expect Reporters, especially Liberty ones. Be careful, and whatever you do, don't mention who you'll be travelling with or what you'll be travelling on."

Aela nodded, she guessed some things would stay the same throughout the galaxy. The paparazzi would clearly forever try to hound her during her explorations here. Best to avoid them if possible.

Still, she was quite excited. Here she was, about to meet what would surely become one of the most powerful people in the galaxy, representing not only her people, but billions of others as well. It was most frightening, but at the same time, she couldn't wait for it to happen. This would be the first steps towards a bright and shining future.


	9. Chapter 9

New Windsor, New London  
New London System

The room Aela entered was a lot simpler than she had thought it would be. The floor was covered in a soft azure material, much like her own skin. Great arched windows graced the right side of the room, giving her a good view of what looked like a garden of sorts, likely the interior of this palace, while the left showed more pictures of what she assumed were very important people. The walls were panelled simply with a light brown wood, and all the furniture she could see was made of the same coloured wood. They also made use of the same azure material on them, save for the one in which a particularly big and regally dressed Human as sitting with his back against a red tapestry with those two animals she saw earlier, the regal Varren and the Horned creature, on its background in the center. Aela guessed that he was probably the King of the nation, and her nervousness only grew.

She caught Perkins giving her a little look. "Please," he said steadily, trying to keep her relaxed. "Stay calm and follow my lead. Don't speak unless spoken to and try and answer all his questions honestly. Understood?"

Aela could only nod and follow Perkins as they slowly approached the man who led what Aela suspected would be one of the most influential nations in the galaxy.

King Alexander I of the House of Windsor was a very worried man right now. Though few know it, Bretonnia was in a very bad situation. Centuries of overindustrialization had led to what his analysts were telling him would be an inevitable famine within a few generations, even with Planetform's projects on Harris and Aeia. Neither Terraforming project would be able to finish in time to stave off famine. At that point, they would have to go to Liberty for financing for food from what would probably be their Synth Paste company, eventually leading to another Rhineland.

That would basically be signing the death of Bretonnia. That simply could not be allowed to happen, so Alex swore to himself upon learning of it from his advisors. So when he had heard they had made real First Contact with Aliens, Alex saw his chance. These aliens were quite possibly the key to new territory. New arable territory that BMM won't touch. He just needed to get on their good side, show them just how much more reasonable Bretonnia is compared to the other nations. Knowing the Kusari, he suspected that they wouldn't even want the aliens near them if possible. Liberty just saw an open door for new people to exploit while Rhineland… Rhineland was something else entirely. They used to be a giant, his father had told him of the old Empire, and they were indeed the only force that could have definitively rivalled Liberty. Since the war though… They were a broken people, and they could lash out. They were another problem to solve, though… if he handled things right, new Anglo-Germanic relations could be improved considerably with a potential economic alliance. Bretonnia would be the gates to the new world, while Rhineland guards it.

In theory at least.

So it would be best to smile and wave and be the courteous host to this alienly beautiful woman who was now approaching him. Another reason why, unlike most situations, he was entertaining them here in his home and away from other eyes. He trusted his security well, and while he was no George X, he was certainly no slouch when it came to any of the martial arts. He was reasonably sure he could defend himself in the absolute worst case scenario here today. Now was the time to represent the absolute best of Bretonnia.

He personally saw the fact that these aliens being eerily familiar, full of an easy feminine grace one wouldn't be hard pressed to find amongst the nobility or richer ladies of Liberty, as a good sign. If they looked like humans, maybe they'll act like them. That would most certainly help reduce the potential problems he could have.

"Welcome!" he said cheerily, as he rose and approached to meet them halfway. "I am King Alexander the First of Bretonnia, ruler of this humble nation. May I have the pleasure of knowing who I am greeting?" he said, looking at the young lady before him.

Alexander could easily sense her nervousness when she replied, "I am Dr. Aela D'Avo of the Asari Republics, here representing the Citadel Council in these most fortuitous times."

Really, looking into that very human face of hers, Alex could've sworn he was talking to some young noblewoman trying to make a good impression on him. With that elegant white dress of hers that both hid and accentuated, she could've been yet another of the many ladies of the court.

"Please, relax." he said encouragingly. "Though I am King, here we may dispose with much of the protocol involved. I find that such tends to slow things down far too much, especially in this kind of situation where you wouldn't know protocol anyway."

She seemed to relax a bit, though her escort, the Commander Perkins, was clearly starting to sweat. Typical for your average commoner really when they were in the presence of their king.

"Yyyes your Highness," Perkins stammered.

"Please relax," he said firmly to Perkins. It seemed to do the trick and he assumed to have gone into a familiar military-style at rest. Whatever worked for him Alex guessed. Then, he turned to Aela, "Now, I understand that you doubtless have many many questions Dr. D'Avo. Please feel free to ask them. I hope to entertain anything you may ask, and if I cannot answer them, I shall deign to direct you to someone who can," he replied cheerily. After all, these people would have the good sense to take notes on her as well. Learning is a two way street after all.

The Asari, Aela, looked a little surprised at that. Alex figured she didn't expect a Monarch to be so blunt. Still, she made an admirable recovery. "Your Highness," she continued formally. Good call on her part, though whether it was something that was conscious or not was not something Alex knew. "While I do have many many questions, I was more hoping that you would be the one to ask me them."

Ah. Offers of knowledge. Always good, but for this, Alex thought he would need a more relaxed atmosphere. That would help loosen the clearly green diplomat's tongue. "Since you so kindly offered," Alex replied, trying to keep his voice as charming as possible. Just the same way he won over Miranda. "Please prepare the table. It is approaching dinner time, and it wouldn't do to have our guests starve. Please tell Terry to prepare the 'diplomatic' dishes please," he said into his communicator via his Neural Net.

"Please, sit down," he said to both Perkins and Aela, gently indicating towards the chairs. "We shall have dinner here soon, and I have many questions about this Citadel and your Asari Republics." If he could find out how they worked, or if they were anything like the other Houses, he was confident he could put Bretonnia firmly on top in any of their negotiations.

With a little luck, he might even bring about a new Pax Bretonnia, and eclipse his ancestors.

* * *

Dinner in Aela's eyes was an exotically lavish affair. They were still in the same room, except now, where normally in front of the King was a corridor between chairs, there was a rather grand dining table, carved from a wood so dark it was almost black. Several exotic looking dishes were on top of the table and three places had been prepared right next to the King. She could make out familiar utensils at least: delicate looking glasses, plates, several spoons, forks, and knives. She could see little differences between the utensils, so she wasn't sure which to use. It looked like Perkins wouldn't be of much help here either because she could see a little bit of worry in his face.

Still, from her seat, she patiently waited, deciding to mimic the one person who definitely knew what to do in this situation; the King himself. Soon enough, one of those black suited servants came in with a tray loaded with a few bowls. He set one down in front of her and she was pleased to discover the aromatic orange soup with a little dash of white on top. She carefully waited and observed both the King and Perkins, not touching the food for a while. She saw the King take a wide brimmed spoon and she carefully mimicked him as he ate. She had a little spoonful of the soup, careful to mimic his actions. The soup itself proved to be a wonderfully creamy and earthy soup. Simple yet hearty, it was one she would try and duplicate if possible. When the King took a small sip out of his glass filled with a little clear liquid, she did so, and was rewarded with a light alcoholic beverage that reminded her of Thessian red wine. It was a little fruitier though and seemed to compliment the dish before her.

"Your Highness," she cautiously inquired. "I'm rather curious as to the nature of your… environmental policies." It was indeed an issue. When the Krogan touched a world before the Genophage, they tended to destroy or devastate garden planets. It reduced limited living space for everyone. Efficiency is important in Citadel society; there were only so many places one could live in, despite FTL. Though she did hope that with these Human Jumpgates, exploration could increase and help expand the amount of living space.

"I'll be honest with you madam," King Alexander said severely as the servant took away the bowls and brought in small plates with what looked like a salad. "I'm sure you have seen Leeds, the Southampton debris fields, basically the effects of Bretonnia Mining and Minerals when they have been… unregulated so to speak."

"You mean a single company has managed to do this, all because you didn't regulate them?" she asked incredulously. It was hard to believe this was all the effect of a single company. Several yes, a whole government yes, but a single company?

"BMM has a government charter. My ancestors were… desperate. Bretonnia was the last of the Houses to arrive, and in order to compete and not be swallowed by the others, we had to industrialize quickly. We effectively gave BMM carte blanche to do what they needed to do, damn the effects. Look what we have now though." he ended, looking her in the eyes.

"We Bretonnians only have three planets. Three planets to feed and clothe over 12 billion people. Most of that from a single planet. Even if most of my people don't actually live on planets, they still need food and clothing, and all that has to come from somewhere. What our ancestors were thinking when it came to trying to match ourselves to the other Houses to have their children bear the cost, I have no idea. What I'm trying to do here is to fix my ancestors mistake. Ever so slowly, I'm beginning to convince Parliament that BMM's operations aren't necessarily in the best interests of Bretonnia. Sadly it took the Founder's Day Rebellion for some of them to see it, but now I'm able to start regulating them better. We in Bretonia intend to fix our mistakes, no matter how long it may take."

So these people have realized their mistakes then. That was a good sign, the Krogan have yet to learn from the Rebellions. They were still their crude selves, and while they could in fact theoretically recover from the genophage with their birth-rates, they still refuse to stand and learn from their mistakes. These humans meanwhile were seemingly trying to improve things.

"I'm glad to hear that Your Majesty," Aela said diplomatically. "While the sheer scale of production Leeds is capable of is impressive," terrifying even, especially in comparison to what many Citadel planets were capable of. "The pollution I witnessed there was frankly disturbing."

"I understand. Many visitors to Bretonia often comment as such when they pass through Leeds," King Alexander sorrowfully replied.

A little thing caught her attention though. King Alexander mentioned five sleeper ships, yet there seemed to be only four Houses. What happened to that last ship, the… what was it's name? She decided to ask him only after the next course was served, what looked like a cut from some land animal, with a little slightly translucent sauce served with it and some more green vegetables.

"Your Majesty," she said carefully. "I must ask for the sake of my curiosity. I remember you mentioned earlier that there were five ships that left… Sol. What happened to the fifth? The… Hispaniola I believe?"

"The Hispania…" King Alexander said slowly after a brief period of silence. "No one really knows what happened to it. We never found the ship even after over 700 years here. There are however whispers that we have in fact been in contact with them for a long while now. Rumor has it that two of the most powerful criminal syndicates in the Sirius sector are the children of the Hispania. The Outcasts, and the Corsairs."

"These Outcasts from their name alone don't seem very threatening to me your Majesty," Aela replied a little light-heartedly. After all, if they were outcasts, how would they recruit new members?

"These Outcasts are the source of a drug that plagues the Sirius sector, Doctor. Cardamine is a narcotic with a near 100% addiction rate. It creates an intense sense of euphoria and energy in the user. Many people don't even build up a tolerance for the drug, and so choose to dose themselves up with it continuously to avoid the inevitable withdrawal symptoms, of which include severe psychosis, occasional respiratory problems, and in the case of long term users, even death. We've also recently discovered that long term use also results in genetic damage. They've used this drug to effectively string and addict several other criminal groups. Their web of influence is steadily growing and more and more people are getting addicted to the drug."

"The Corsairs meanwhile are pirates pure and simple. Unlike most however, they are smart, coordinated and very good pilots. Few can match them in a one on one fight, and those few are often the very best of the House Navies, and a select few other groups. Only the Outcasts can really lay the claim to match them pilot for pilot. They raid shipping in nearly every system known to us, and they rarely leave survivors."

Shocked wasn't quite the word to describe Aela's feelings on the revelation. It was, however, close enough. How could they let such groups continue? Even though Mercenary bands back in Citadel space were powerful, they were still constrained by the law, if only just. Pirates back home didn't even come close to the level of organization these groups sounded like they had.

"Why don't you just… hunt them down?" she asked.

"We've tried," King Alexander replied despondently. "The thing is however, that no one has ever found their bases. I mean obviously someone knows where they are based, but no one is reporting it to us, and frankly I understand their worry. These are amongst the most powerful groups in the Sirius systems, and chances are, those groups are based somewhere in the very distant parts of the Sirius sector, on the Edge worlds. Barely explored territory, accessible only through dangerous Jumpholes, full of hazards and of course, those two groups trying to make sure they keep their bases secret. The only thing that seems to work in our favour is that these two groups actively hate each other, though no one knows why."

Wild space. The way he described these… Edge worlds, thy sounded like a miniature version of the Terminus systems, yet somehow more lethal. Though she did wonder, what were these Jumpholes?

"I think I'm beginning to understand the situation here in the Sirius sector Your Majesty," Aela cautiously replied. Her understanding being that it was practically the Terminus systems here, despite the veneer of law and order these Humans claim to profess. While true that space is big, it's just not possible for there to be so many criminals that can escape unnoticed right? "Which is why I believe that it is in Humanity's best interest to join the Citadel."

"Oh? Pray do enlighten me how it would most definitely help us. I've received the reports Lord Barstow has mentioned from your Captain. Is there something that your Captain T'Loni failed to mention?" King Alex inquired.

"The Citadel fleet can most certainly aid you here in this situation. We have the ships and people to help you hunt down these pirates. Also, after seeing what I have seen, I'm almost sure that Humanity will quickly gain a Council position. You would most surely be able to quickly get a say in the most important alliance of species in the galaxy," Aela said, trying to win over the King. If they could get Humanity to join, think of all the technology, the improvements in lives! She was also sure that they could expand further, enabling more and more people to no longer be crowded on planets. It would usher in a new age of exploration!

King Alex's face though, was scrunched up in what Aela thought was deep thought. "This is something that I will have to think about for quite a while."

"I understand completely Your Majesty." Aela said. This was indeed a very important decision to make. It would take both time and effort to convince others that it was the right course.

"In the meantime though," he said, switching to a more jovial tone of voice. "Let's have us some dessert."

Dessert was a simple green jelly that Aela personally found very refreshing. The King, meanwhile, had elected to ask some of his own questions now. "Tell me, what are the Asari Republics like? What are you Asari known for?"

That… was going to take a while to explain.

"Back home on Thessia, I think the best way to describe things are run there is that we are a very active democratic society. Everyone participates in government decisions though we often listen to the what the Matriarchs, our eldest and most respected members nearing 1000 years old We all participate and voice our concerns on the extranet, our version of interconnected computers which I'm sure you have as well."

"The Neural Net, but please, do continue."

"Because of this level of democracy and the fact that each of our planets are effectively a different government, sort of like a city-state but on a planetary scale, we're known as the diplomats and mediators of the galaxy. Each of those planets are a republic in themselves, hence the Asari Republics. We're also the technologically and culturally dominant species in the Citadel, being both a founding member and the oldest known FTL species. That is until we encountered you Humans. Until we can match our timelines we've no way of knowing how long you have had access to FTL, and judging from your mastery of physics, I must say, chances are you must have been exploring space for quite some time."

"But that is just speculation on your part yes?"

"Indeed it is Your Majesty."

"Then I must be of the opposing opinion that we aren't as old as you think. Perhaps the Coalition, if they are still there at least, but not those of the Sirius sector. Our scientists think that it took us several millennia to get here from Sol. Several millennia of us in cryostasis, our culture, our technology, all frozen in time, so that the Coalition could never catch up with us and catch us off guard, and free to rebuild. "

Millenia. Generations of Asari could have been born and died in the time it took these few human to reach their new homes. Goddess, she couldn't think of anything that would lead to something like that being enacted by the Thessian Government.

"All the same, I think we've had a wonderful time getting to know you Doctor D'Avo. This was a wonderfully educational dinner here, no?"

Aela thought about what she had learned here tonight. Humans were essentially exiles, and have no plans on going back. They were most definitely capable of changing and learning from their mistakes. Most importantly of all, they seemed like decent and reasonable people who tried to make do with the situation they had and solve their problems, however ineffectually, in terms of the pirate problem at least.

Things could have been a lot worse.


	10. Chapter 10

_Sirius News Service_  
_New London, New London System_

_It is a historic day here in the colonies as Humanity has made official First Contact with an alien race. Today, His Majesty, King Alexander I of Bretonnia greeted the representative of this Citadel Council, one Dr. Aela D'Avo, an Asari, aliens who look rather like women, but instead of hair have tentacle like fringes and blue skin. She greeted His Majesty in the "name of Peace. We of the Citadel hope that we will have a bountiful future together Your Majesty."_

_When asked for her thoughts on Humanity as a whole she said "Every day I continue to be surprised by Humanity. I imagine that in the future, Humans will certainly make an impact on Citadel society."_

_We of the SNS hope that Dr. D'Avo continues to have a safe trip throughout her tour._

Planet Malta  
Omicron Alpha System

When the Hispania first arrived in the Sirius sector, and the people had awoken from cryostasis, the passengers were shocked to find that their engines had been destroyed and that they were drifting towards an unknown star system. The people aboard were terrified. There was no guarantee that the system they were heading towards would even have a planet that could support life. The ship eventually became split into two parties: those for taking the escape pods and try to push their luck somewhere else, and those for nursing the Hispania onwards to its final destination.

Those who elected to stay steadily directed the Hispania towards a star system that, luckily enough, contained a single habitable planet. They took what escape pods and shuttles were left and found themselves on a planet with gray skies, acidic green seas, and endless plains of orange grass. The survivors named the planet Malta.

Several decades after establishing themselves on their new home, they managed to set up enough infrastructure to begin exploration of their home system. However, for some reason the further an explorer went away from Malta, the sicker they would become, only to miraculously recover upon landing. Doctors were baffled and only after doing a thorough genetic scan did they discover the answer to why.

Their entire genetic structure had been altered considerably. Several strands had become identical to that of the orange grasses on the planet which some of the colonists had begun to take recreationally, Cardamine.

Further investigations showed that trace amounts of it could be found everywhere. From the air they breathed to the water they drank, trace amounts of Cardamine could be found in it. Even the plants and animals they had managed to save from the Hispania's seed and animal bank had been slightly altered. Everything they were taking into them was altered, and thus changing them. These people of the Hispania were now the Outcasts of Humanity. They could never really expand beyond Malta now, they depended too much on Cardamine.

Still, with the initial problem discovered, they could compensate by bringing with them processed Cardamine, and exploration could continue beyond the system.

When they encountered the other Houses around 600 A.S., the Outcasts came up with an idea; rot them from the inside out with Cardamine and grow rich off the profits. So they began their work, slowly building connections, getting criminals to build a dependency on them for their fix of Cardamine.

Now the Dons of Malta live rich comfortable lives, with a level of wealth unrivaled throughout the Sirius sector, and even Citadel space. Everyday, more and more Cardamine is exported from Malta to satisfy the growing need of the Sirius sector.

Now… things could change. Drastically. In the villa of one of the most powerful Dons of Malta, one Don Michael Sforza, who owned a full third of the fields on Malta, was reading a news report that he was confident would dramatically increase the number of people who would answer to the Outcasts.

Aliens. A whole new galaxy of opportunity had opened up to the Outcasts. Billions, no, trillions more people to get hooked on Cardamine, and thus for the Outcasts to profit from. Trillions in credits all just waiting for the right moment to strike.

But patience would be required. The Outcasts hadn't learned how to communicate with them yet, not to mention how to even get there. That would require exploration of Jumpholes from relatively unknown systems, bases to set up if necessary.

But so long as there were people, there would be someone who would want their fix of Cardamine. All the Outcasts needed was time.

They had plenty of that.

* * *

Planet Crete  
Omicron Gamma System

The other half of the people of the Hispania landed in what was for all intents and purposes a barren planet. It was a planet full of extremes from icy cold mountaintops to bone dry deserts. Between these extremes, there was hardly any arable land for the survivors to eke a living, and starvation was often to be expected.

Still, after a few centuries, a stroke of luck for the people of Crete hit them. A Rhineland expedition landed on the planet, and seeing this opportunity, the descendants of the survivors of the Hispania killed the crew and took over their ships.

Within a few decades, these Corsairs had managed to expand their raiding operations, hitting House shipping and isolated outposts wherever they could, striking quickly and efficiently before retreating into their hidden jumpholes.

Today, with the help of the huge demand for alien artifacts that were so common throughout their home system, the Corsairs had managed to set up a thriving smuggling route, selling their artifacts to whoever wanted them at prices they dictated. With these funds, they no longer had to fear things like starvation, now bringing in much of their food from the Zoner bases in the neighboring systems. They established a thriving shipbuilding industry and now possessed some of the finest ships and equipment throughout the Sirius Sector.

Today, the Council of Elders, the effective ruling body of the Corsairs, convened to decide what to do with a startling new piece of information. Though they were separated from the rest of the Houses by many Jumpholes, that did not mean they did not receive news, and this particular piece caught the Council's eye for one reason alone. Aliens.

"This… is troubling." said Elder Jose worriedly. The fact that maybe he didn't hallucinate what he saw at his trials was what really worried him. The fact that maybe… these aliens knew what he saw.

"Where you see trouble, I see opportunity." retorted Elder Carlos. Typical, though to be fair, true. More people meant more targets, and the fact that they were new meant they would, initially at least, not expect the Corsairs to raid them.

"I must agree with Carlos, Jose." replied Elder Lourdes. "This is more an opportunity than a threat. While the occasional Bounty Hunter may find us here, we are the finest pilots in the Sirius sector, and have the finest equipment as well. Some of our scouts have even filed reports that we can in theory take on Rhineland and win, though at a cost I would find far too expensive. What is there to worry about?"

"You of course know of the trials," Elder Jose replied after a brief moment of silence.

The other two nodded. It was the Corsair right of passage. To prove oneself worthy of continuing to live and earn their right to eat, every young Corsair had to take an unshielded ship into the Malvada cloud. They were to go in, retrieve a single artifact, and return. If they failed, then it meant that the radiation took them, and thus no longer a burden on Corsair society. Thus the other name of the cloud, the Graveyard of the Innocents.

"When I took my Trial, in an attempt to take an artifact that I thought would be most worthy of me, I stumbled into a Jumphole, where I ended up in an unknown system. There… there was only darkness. No stars, no lights, nothing, yet scanners said they were detecting objects nearby." he said slowly, as if reliving the moment again.

"It took me a moment to realize that the reason why I wasn't seeing anything, was that I was surrounded by hundreds, possibly thousands of black ships. All blocking the sun and stars. I quickly fled back into the Jumphole and grabbed the first artifact I could find. I never spoke of that again, thinking it was only a fevered dream of perhaps being exposed to the radiation a little too long. Till now at least." he ended, letting that final statement hang in the air for a while. He could see his fellow Elder's eyes slowly dawn in comprehension.

"I fear that, since there are other creatures out there as intelligent and determined as we are, those black ships must therefore be owned by someone. I fear that maybe… one day, the owners of those black ships will come for us."

* * *

The Citadel  
Serpent Nebula

Once again, the Council, the three most powerful people within Citadel Space, convened in a room that wouldn't be unusual anywhere else in the Citadel. Just like a little apartment really.

The main difference really, was that it was guaranteed no one would be watching that little discreet room, where some of the most important decisions in the galaxy were made. Especially now, in light of what Captain T'Loni reported.

"Advanced energy shielding, energy weapons, super hard armor, and most importantly, wormhole generation…" Councilor Sparatus, the Turian councilor, read through the list worriedly. It was supposed to be just an investigation into an unknown artifact. But now… "First contact with a race so advanced, miners took out one of the newest ships of the fleet,"

"Then it is a good thing these people seek peace with us." Councilor Tevos, the Asari councillor, countered. "In fact, these people seem very open to talking to us. What's more, these Humans are incredibly factionalized. The damage to the Gladius was caused by one of these factions, a group of rebelling miners called the Mollies. I think we can definitely use that to our advantage in our future talks with them. It should be trivial for our Matriarchs to get them to share their technology when we convene to meet at this… Curacao place."

"I'm far more worried about what these technologies mean." Councilor Raleh replied worriedly. "They speak of an understanding of physics that is simply… beyond us. Even if they were to provide complete technical details and the fundamental theories behind them, I fear that it would still take several Salarian generations for us to just catch up to their basics."

"Then we would obviously need their teachers." Councilor Tevos argued. "We would just need to include that as part of the provisions in our future talks."

"And we can take advantage of this factionalism as well," added Councilor Raleh after a bit of thought. "From the sound of it, these Humans have underlying problems with their society, especially if miners could revolt so effectively. Sowing discontent and supporting separatist groups should be relatively easy, at least if these Humans prove to be too stubborn."

"I don't think you understand just what we are dealing with, Raleh." Sparatus growled. "Spirits damned miners crippled the Gladius! Just think about how that could come back to haunt us,If these regimes or factions we support turn out to be uncooperative even after getting what they want, or worse, try attacking us. We would face something far more terrible than the Krogan Rebellions."

"Sparatus has a point, Raleh," Tevos gently replied. "We need to think of the long term… effects of making use of separatist groups. It could easily come to haunt us in the future. We need to find some way to take advantage of the factionalism in Humanity, without any… unpleasantness on our part if at all possible "

"T'Loni suggested in her report that there were other major nations as well, for a total of four. The Republic of Liberty, The Federal Republic of Rhineland, The Kusari Empire and finally, the only one we have definitively made contact with, the Kingdom of Bretonia. We could play one faction against each other, plant false information, or even truthful ones. It could make all the difference in encouraging… violent activities. Even on just the diplomatic level, it should be easy to obtain information and supply them with what they wish to know about the others." Raleh suggested.

"See Sparatus? With the amount of factionalism there, it should be relatively easy to keep things in our control," Tevos said reassuringly.

"If we are caught though… the repercussions could be worse than anything we could imagine. With their advanced technology, it is doubtful that we could force them to the table with something like the Genophage." Sparatus replied gravely. "We should consider slowly expanding each of our respective militaries. I know I will be suggesting it to the Primarch as soon as possible. These Humans have the advantage in technology, so we should, if possible, try to get the advantage in numbers."

"I'm not sure that would be the best message to send to them, Sparatus," Tevos countered. "If they find out about it, they could interpret it as a hostile action. No amount of misdirection could possibly cause them to not unite against a perceived threat like us."

"Then we should do so subtly," Raleh argued. "Sparatus makes an excellent point. Where we cannot win in terms of technology, we must try to catch up. Take any destroyed ships, whether bandit or not, and salvage the technology. Fundamental analysis can be done later. What matters more is that we produce copies through tried and true, trial and error. Understanding can come later, what matters most is that we copy the devices. The underlying principles can be taken on much later."

"All of these are for worst case scenarios of course," Tevos said cautiously.

"Plan for the worst, and we will not be too surprised when it happens." Raleh retorted.

"Very well then. On to the more peaceful plans. How do you think will the humans affect the economy? Big or small, I'm sure they are bound to leave their mark on the galaxy," Tevos said optimistically.

"Unless their advanced technology allows them to produce huge amounts of goods quickly and cheaply, I don't think they will make any very visible changes in the economy when they first arrive, not to mention the possible logistical problems. We don't quite know how they will transport their goods to us," Raleh reported.

"It is something that needs to be discussed with them then, the establishment of trade routes and handling the safety of said routes." Tevos replied. "Trade will be essential to the growth of their economies after all, and I suspect it will also be essential to their expansion as well."

"Their crime," Sparatus replied suddenly, "is something I would be worried about. If criminal groups attack shipping, I doubt there would be many survivors, if any. If the reports are accurate, and that the Gladius was crippled by mere miners, imagine what criminal groups who may have access to better weapons could do, especially if they were more organized."

"Then we would need to inform the Humans that it is imperative they control their crime problem as part of any treaty they would have with us," Tevos countered. "Relax Sparatus, after all it would be in their best interests to protect trade between our systems and theirs. We have the situation under control."

"I suspect Tevos, that things will not be as simple as that..." Sparatus ended as he looked out of the apartment window over a peaceful view of the Citadel.


	11. Chapter 11

The Bretonian Museum, New London  
New London System

Dr. Aela D'Avo was, for lack of a better term, puzzled.

These Humans were simply an enigma. From what King Alexander had revealed, Aela was honestly shocked that such a species hasn't already destroyed itself in one of its many wars with Humans seemed to have brought factionalism up to an artform. Not even the Krogan were so eager to fight each other.

Yet somehow, these humans had managed to not only survive past the construction of nuclear devices and their infighting, they had in fact managed to create highly advanced technology that she doubted anyone in the Citadel could easily comprehend. They were also quite adept at making art that Aela imagined would garner quite a few fans back on Thessia. Right now though, King Alexander had invited her to tour the Bretonian Musuem, said to house the largest collection of cultural artifacts in the Sirius sector. It was something that Aela simply could not say no to. Her curiosity as a scientist and xenoarchaeologist simply demanded that she take a brief look at the history of these humans. So now, she and Perkins were making their way towards the museum. Aela was simply bursting with excitement.

"His Majesty has managed to get us a private tour of the Museum." Perkins said with a little bit of reverence in his voice. "The entire museum, closed off. Only us and the curator will be in that museum. Almost 100 square kilometers for us to explore. I mean, I've been to the museum before, everyone on New London has at some point, but well… The entire building to ourselves."

Aela couldn't help but be even more excited. To have so much space, dedicated to simple learning. Not necessarily to something like a university or school, but a place where everyone could go and for a moment, learn a little about just about any topic under the sun, for free! Even the museums back on Thessia charged a small amount to access their comparatively smaller exhibits. This seemed to heavily indicate a culture that valued learning, and Aela for one couldn't help but feel a little relieved. Surely with this kind of emphasis on learning and the preservation of culture, these humans would at the very least be the type to be reasonable. The future talks on Curacao would likely go in a direction beneficial to the Citadel, or at the very least the Asari.

As they approached the Museum, with the rain of New London really making itself felt, Aela started to get the feeling of just how… big it was. At around five or six floors tall, with high arching windows and a dark brown metallic exterior, Aela couldn't help but feel as if the museum was designed to make any visitor remember that they were ignorant, and thus needed to be educated. She honestly didn't know what to feel about that.

Still, she decided to not let what the building thought of her bring her down. She was a respected Xenoarchaeologist of Thessia, and while her grasp of technology may be deficient compared to these humans, she could at the very least give a decent guess at how the history of these Humans affected them. Given a basic understanding of course, which is what she hoped the curator would be able to provide.

When they finally got to the museum itself, Aela got a glimpse of the museum's curator. Hair speckled with both white and black, creating a sort of blending effect, plenty of wrinkles on his face and a sort of look in his eyes that seemed… old even though she knew that she was very likely several centuries older than this man.

"Greetings," the man said jovially, "I am Sir Reginald Archibald Thornton II, at your service madam. It is my pleasure to personally tour you today through the largest collection of human culture in the Sirius sector, and very likely, in the galaxy."

"But I thought you fled your Homeworld?" Aela asked, a little bit in disbelief. After all, just how much could their colony ship have taken aboard before fleeing whatever war they were fighting?

"We did indeed, and sadly, we only managed to save a few select items, such as the Crown Jewels, before fleeing. So our ancestors did the very next best thing; scan the artifacts they could get to and save them on a database. Many of the artifacts in the collection here are very faithful replicas to the original. Thousands of years of human history and culture, all condensed and saved here in this very building. We are very proud of what we have managed to find and collect, even managing to add now and then to new collections, mostly off of the ancient ruins we find here in the Sirius sector,, though occasionally we get a donation from a family that managed to save something from Earth."

That last bit raised Aela's hopes up quite a bit. If these Humans had merely found say… an experimental Prothean lab that was well preserved, or maybe even a fully functioning beacon, then that could possibly explain their mastery over so many of the sciences. Though that still left the question of how they did all this without eezo.

"Now if you would kindly follow me please," said Sir Reginald as he opened the door into what Aela thought was the most beautiful place yet, "We can start with our tour."

Once again, like the exterior, this hall was made of the same brown metal that seemed so common throughout Bretonia. Unlike the exterior though, here she felt welcomed into the building. A great stairway was at the very center of the room, and great statues of beautiful humans made of the purest white marble flanked the hall towards the staircase. The roof was arched and made entirely of glass, likely to let in what sunlight was around when it wasn't raining. It truly felt as if she was in a temple of learning, and she ,should as such, learn by the Goddess.

"On our left and right are some beautiful replicas of some Ancient Greek statues. The entire major pantheon flanks our sides, with Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, and Zeus the chief of the Olympians being at the very end, near the staircase."

"But who were these Greeks? Why are they so important?" asked Aela. Were they some faction that civilization that died off in the war?

"The Greeks were perhaps one of the most influential civilizations in the history of mankind." Sir Reginald said, in a manner that Aela thought very much reminded of her old professor on Thessia. "Even today, their influence is felt, from the words we speak to the very buildings we design. Those columns on our sides and the ones at the very forefront of the building? All originally Greek. They came up with Philosophies that influenced thinking even until today, and most definitely helped develop our earliest Mathematics systems. The only civilization that I can think of that left such a mark would be the Romans, who we will be looking at in a few moments." he finished as he climbed the staircase and turned left down a hallway.

Aela followed and very quickly saw a man dressed in what looked like plate armor, a large shield and a spear of sorts. She let out a very little meep at that, before realizing it was simply a very good hologram.

"I see you've met Lucius here," said Sir Reginald after he and Perkins chuckled a bit. "Lucius here is a Centurion. The mainstay of the Roman legions, and the foundation of the Roman Empire. Follow me further into the exhibit, where I will show you a map of the old Roman empire."

Aela followed Sir Reginald to what looked like a projector. Soon enough, as she approached it, she heard a slight whirring soun as the projector hummed to life. She was then presented with a huge map, showing what looked like two continents nearly encircling a small sea, and a few rather large islands off the coast of the northern continent.

"This is part of a map of Earth, our Homeworld." said Sir Reginald. "We are looking at one particular part of the world that would affect the rest for… as long as there will be humans I would imagine. This is a map of Europe, with parts of Africa, the bits south of that large inland sea, and Asia, with the bits to the east of the inland sea."

"It is here that some scholars argue, where modern civilization was born, namely here in this area." he said, pointing to a particularly mountainous region near the sea. "A hilly region, with very little in actual arable land,is where the Greeks made their home. From here, little independent City-states were formed, normally near the sea. From there, they conducted trade across the Mediterranean Sea, and even established colonies as far as the Black Sea, France. and Iberia" he pointed to both another inland sea to the north and a location far to the west. "These people managed to to come up with Philosophies, Arts and Sciences whose impact can be felt even today. The very word Politics itself, comes from the word Polis, which means city in Ancient Greek. Even our very basic idea of democracy started here in Greece, more than several thousand years ago."

"Despite them being such great influences upon human civilization today, the Greeks never really did unite, much to their detriment. The few times they did was to face an even greater threat, the Persians, who lived not too far away, to the east, in Asia. Still, they were considered even then to be the very pinnacle of human culture. Their neighbors aspired to be them, and this would be how much of Greek culture spread throughout the world. Alexander the Great, a Macedonian, was so enamoured with Greek culture, in no small part thanks to his teacher the great philosopher Aristotle, that he Hellenized, or turned most of his empire Greek. Even though said empire fell apart, the Greek influence could be felt for centuries to come. Then of course, came the people who conquered the Greeks, the Romans."

Personally, Aela couldn't help but draw some analogies of these Greeks to her own people. City-states, a tendency to prefer the arts and philosophies, influencing their neighbors to such an extent. The disunity seemed to be a particularly Human trait though, as if they valued their independence a tad too much. Still, if these Greeks were around, she imagined her fellow Asari would have gotten along splendidly with them.

"The Romans meanwhile, were at least for a period, a Republic that would go on to form what I am convinced is the other most influential culture in the history of mankind. Essentially, the entire culture of Rome was centered on its capital city and namesake, Rome. They would, over several centuries, create one of the largest empires in the history of Earth. Using the innovative concept of a paid army and a well trained one at that, the Romans eventually formed an empire and expanded it to incredible levels. Said empire was around to serve Rome. Oil and wine could be imported from one end of the empire, and marble and gold from another, all of which lead directly back to Rome in order to satisfy its never ending thirst for goods. A citizen's duty was ultimately to Rome first, and Romans weren't picky about who could become a Roman citizen. Even the barbarians could, over time, be properly Romanized, and that sort of Romanization lead to them indirectly influencing the kingdoms and peoples after the fall of Rome. When Rome ultimately fell to the barbarians, the barbarians themselves started emulating parts of Rome. Laws, language, trade, religion, all of it fundamentally shaped human society as we know it today."

Aela couldn't help but bring up some parallels between this Roman Empire and the Turians, a greater duty to society, a rather militaristic one at that, and what looked like a great emphasis on unification, though once again, human factionalism comes in, and breaks apart the empire.

As Sir Reginald continued with the tour, showing some of the everyday life aspects of both the Romans and Greeks through their holoprojector,Aela got the feeling that in the end, Humans could get along with Citadel races just fine. She suspected it was getting along with themselves that they would find a lot more troublesome.

While Aela most certainly found the earlier exhibits interesting, they did after all help paint a picture of human culture and philosophies, which as essential to her mission, she was far more excited about this final exhibit Sir Reginald was leading them towards.

"Now I hear that you yourself are an xenoarchaeologist, Dr. T'Loni," Sir Reginald said, equally excited. "So I am most interested in hearing your thoughts on the alien ruins we discovered. We call them," he gestured with a flourish and dramatic pause. "The Dom'Kavash."

Aela was slightly disappointed to see what looked like your typical pre-spaceflight civilization ruins. Scrolls of paper with some hieroglyphs of sorts and some stone ruins, though there were crystals that were particularly interesting, but otherwise one of your typical pre-industrial age civilization that died out for reason or crystals though, from the amount recovered, suggested a culture that was centered on them..

"What we have here is our admittedly small collection, at least compared to the Hammer Institute of Liberty, and most of our collection isn't really up for public study, instead being studied by our own xenoarchaeologists on Cambridge. Carbon dating shows that these ruins are ,amazingly enough, millions of years old. A pre-Cretaceous period civilization, over 65 million years old. At least."

"I'm afraid I don't see what's so amazing about that, Sir Reginald," Aela said apologetically. "While yes, the Dom'Kavash are indeed older than anything I've ever encountered before, I don't quite see the big deal. These artifacts seem to indicate a… bronze or iron age level society that is incredibly well preserved."

"I understand your doubt Dr. T'Loni, and to be frank, when we first encountered these ruins we thought nothing special of them either. Then we found more ruins on other planets, several systems away from each other. We wondered how did this happen? Alien uplift? Transplanted cultures? Then we started reading what we could about them. Translating what writings they left for us to understand, and we were shocked. Essentially, we are looking at the dead bones of the Dom'Kavash. They were capable of incredible feats of engineering. Some of their writings even spoke of something we suspect is a Dyson Sphere, though if it exists, we don't even know where to find it. It spoke of an empire spanning the galaxy, yet reliably being able to get from one end to another in mere hours."

Well that changed things. To have such structures, scrolls and crystals survive for that period of time meant that these Dom'Kavash were older than even the Protheans! And from the way Sir Reginald described them, their technology almost seemed magical. Even with the Mass Relays, it still took days to get from one end of the galaxy to the other, and some areas took even longer to get to due to their distance from a Mass Relay. Could the Protheans have learned from them at some point through some ruins?

Suddenly something caught Aela's eye. It was one of the crystals, but something about it seemed… familiar. Like she'd seen it in a scientific journal before.

"I'm afraid that you will learn nothing from these artifacts about their technology Dr T'Loni. At least nothing telling you how to do what they were capable of. Believe me we've tried, and what they were capable of is almost impossible through our purely mundane means."

While that was in itself was slightly disturbing if these Humans, as advanced as they were, found these Dom'Kavash incredibly advanced… she'd rather not imagine what they were capable of. Still as she approached one almost spherical crystal, she felt even more confident that a colleague of hers had seen this before.

"Sir Reginald, may I scan this particular crystal?" she said. "I think my colleagues have seen this before. I personally haven't but there are others who may have."

"Of course!" Sir Reginald excitedly replied. "I do hope you do so, it would confirm some of our theories that the Dom'Kavash had spread out beyond the Sirius sector. "

Aela brought up her Omnitool and began a scan on the crystal, doing a image comparison to some of the work her colleague, Dr. T'Vedri, recently did in the Terminus Systems. It was quite a sensation within the xenoarchaeoligcal community, seeing as it was the oldest known civilization yet found. Bringing up a copy of said journal and looking at them side by side, they did have many similarities. From the rocky bases on the top and bottom, to the slight purplish tinge. it looked like that the Dom'Kavash had indeed gone beyond the Sirius sector..

But where were they now?

"Sir Reginald, I think we can confirm that the Dom'Kavash weren't limited to this sector of space. A colleague of mine has encountered similar ruins in a sector of space that isn't… too far away from here."

"This is great news, Dr T'Loni!" he said joyfully "There was great debate within our community as to the size of the Dom'Kavash's empire. To have some evidence that brings an end to this is very reassuring."

"I do have some questions though, Sir Reginald," Aela said. "For one thing, where are they now? From what you describe, the Dom'Kavash were an incredibly advanced race. If they were so advanced, what happened to them?"

Sir Reginald was quiet for a moment, figuring our how to best answer her question,"The most popular theory around is that the Dom'Kavash were centered here, in the Sirius sector. All the other theoretical places the Dom'Kavash had outposts throughout the galaxy, were in theory, comparatively small. Though there is a star nearby, or rather the remnants of one. The Omega 41 system went supernova around the very latest Dom Kvash ruins we encountered. It is… possible that the radiation of the supernova drove the Dom Kvash away from the sector, possibly even towards another galaxy. A few theories state that they moved to another sector of the galaxy. A few more say they died out completely, through various means too. All we know for sure is that they are gone, and have been for a very long time."

So much like the Protheans, these Dom Kvash were a mystery with no clear answer to. And given their age, the questions they raised were even less likely to be answered. It was almost enough to switch her focus in studying. Almost. Still, while she was here, she may as well take a closer look at some of their findings…

"Sir Reginald," she said hesitatingly. "If possible, I'd like to take a copy of whatever findings you have on the Dom Kvash. I'd like to browse them, see if I could find out more about the Dom Kvash, or if they have any similarities to some of my own work."

"Of course Dr. T'Loni," he said reassuringly. "I'll send you a copy of some of our findings before you leave New London. You must understand that as much as I'd love to just hand you over everything, my liege requires that I be… discrete when it comes to the Dom Kvash. "

"Of course, Sir Reginald," Aela said. Shame, that could've helped the Citadel understand more about the technologies the Humans have. This however, just made Dr. T'Vedri's work all the more important. "It has been an utmost pleasure visiting this museum. I must say, this particular exhibit has been my favourite one so far." she said.

Sir Reginald chuckled good naturedly. "I agree. This is one of my favourites too. Imagine, if all they could leave behind after over 66 million years, they left behind such… splendour? I can only dream of what they were capable of."

She had to agree on that. Not only because it was always good to see another new ancient alien civilization, especially one as old as this, but she'd never really encountered something this old before. Though for something this ancient, she imagined it was only natural that there be so little information. Over 66 million years old and they are still finding structures and artifacts? Not to mention actual written material? Their preservation techniques must be extraordinarily good. Who knows what they were like in their prime?

"Well, until next time Sir Reginald." she said, as she and Perkins were about to exit the museum and prepare for their trip to Rhineland.

"Till next time Dr. T'Loni. Till next time." Sir Reginald said, as he waved them off.

* * *

Orbit of New London  
New London system

While her visit to Bretonnia was most fascinating, Aela couldn't help but look forward to her visits to the other Houses. From the way the museum showed their history, she expected that these other nations would be incredibly different from the stoic Bretonnians.

Still, it helped to have someone who would know something, so she decided that while they were in relatively safe space, Aela thought it would be a good idea to get a little lesson from Perkins on Rhinelanders.

"Perkins," Aela tentatively asked. "I was wondering what Rhineland and its people are like. Getting an opinion from you would most certainly help me in... maybe getting to understand them, at last from an outsider's perspective."

Perkins was silent as he steadily directed the ship towards a Trade Lane, this time towards what Aela's helmet HUD was telling her was the Cambridge Jump Gate.

"I've met a few Rhinelanders, Libertonians, and Kusari in my time in the Armed Forces. And I guess that like most people, no two people are exactly alike, in the same way that I imagine that, at least from what you have said, not every Asari is a diplomat and such. Still, I can give you rough approximations of how these people will act, I guess." he said, as they entered a Trade Lane.

"Rhinelanders in my experience tend to be a dour lot. Very professional, like to keep things organized. Cold, rather enjoy being efficient, like a good solid hierarchy from what I can tell, clear lines of command and all. Still, never doubt a Rhineland product. It's likely to outlast you. My uncle bought a Rhineland aircar when I was born and never replaced it. Bloody brilliant engineers the lot of them. Oh, and the country isn't what I'd call the most… prosperous around. Especially since they lost the war against the GMG."

"The who?" Aela asked.

"Right, The Gas Mining Guild. 80 years of combat in the Crow Nebula, all for control of the precious H-fuel deposits there. Rhineland back then was an Empire, and they certainly had the men and resources to win that war. Thing was, they were fighting in territory the Miners knew like the back of their hand. The Imperial Rhineland Navy was practically destroyed when the miners lured the fleet into a massive pocket of untapped hydrogen. When it ignited, it took out nearly the whole fleet, making it easy for the GMG to finish them off."

"Before that war, Rhineland was the one house that could truly rival Liberty both economically and militarily. Since then though, Rhineland has gone into a serious recession, having had trillions in debt to Liberty. Millions lost their jobs, and with the increasing unrest, there really was only one logical conclusion, revolution. "

"The Popular Revolution, as it so became known as, swept through Rhineland, and within three years, overthrew the Emperor and established a Federal Republic, with their Chancellor being a democratically elected leader. That revolution of theirs only further brought the country into financial crisis if you ask me, and well… it actually got so bad, that they had to sell a large portion of planet Stuttgart to a Liberty company called SynthPaste, to help with the debt. Things really have only deteriorated since the revolution almost 50 years ago, and as such, I'm confident in saying that Rhineland is the most crime infested of the Houses. There are the LWB, farmers displaced by SynthPaste, Red Hessians, ex miners turned to piracy, Unioners, former shipyard workers that tried to form unions to get better pay and working conditions until the companies started to rattle things up, and finally, the Bundschu, a revolutionary group dedicated to bringing in a true Republic, where the power is back in the hands of the people."

That… was shocking to say the least. This nation still functioned, despite all this… turmoil? "How… how could a nation continue to function despite all that? I'm honestly surprised it has lasted this long without anarchy descending on their people." Aela said in utter disbelief said as they exited the Trade Lane.

Perkins was quiet at first, clearly directing his attention towards making sure the ship was heading towards the Jump Gate and getting access to use it. He then turned towards Aela, and said, "I honestly expect the other Houses thought so too, but what can I say," he said as they were about to enter the Jump Gate to Cambridge, "They really know how to take a beating and stand tall through it."

* * *

Omega 7 system  
Near the Omega 3 - Omega 7 gate.

So far, flying to Rhineland was an incredibly scenic experience. The more they got away from Leeds, the more wonders of space they encountered, from the Ross Planetoid, an actual Planet in the making, to the Graham Ice Cloud that they emerged in the Omega-3 system. But now, the current system they were in, Omega-7, last one before Rhineland proper, elicited a different sort of feeling.

Like they were being watched. Perkins himself seemed to be a lot more alert now, and Aela couldn't help but feel that his nervousness was contagious. The fact that his normally relaxed nature while they were in Bretonnian space was gone was a great indicator that this was area was wild space.

"I don't like this," said Aela as she stared out into the golden nebula. "This nebula, while most certainly beautiful, just gives me a sense of foreboding"

"And it should," said Perkins, his eyes glued to his displays. "We're in one of the most dangerous systems around. The Omega 7 Nebula cloud is where a lot of pirate attacks happen, thanks to the ever encompassing nebula cloud here which allows them to easily hide and retreat when things get too hot. Both the Red Hessians and the Corsairs do patrols here, and the Rhineland military only patrols as far as the Stuttgart gate. Daumann and Kruger patrols only ever stop to help Rhineland shipping. The IMG here meanwhile does what it can to help, but they can't be relied upon to fight, so if we meet either of the pirate groups, hope to whatever God you pray to that we encounter their opposites."

"Why would we do that?" asked Aela incredulously. "Wouldn't that simply compound our problems?"

"Normally yes, it would, at least with most pirate groups." Perkins said as he slowly steered the fighter towards the trade lane. "Thing is, these guys are in the middle of a huge turf war, at least thats what I hear. We're too much of a small fry for them to really give us too much attention, they'd likely only kill us on principle. Hessians and Corsairs, they'll likely go nuts on seeing each other. They'd briefly work together to take down a convoy and then fight for the scraps, but us? We're not worth their time. So keep your eyes on the windows, I've got sensors. If you see a ship that doesn't even remotely look like a transport you let me know and we'll run."

Aela simply voiced her agreement and took a look out at the window. Though she didn't know anything about these Hessians, if the stories about the Corsairs were true, then Aela would need to be at her most alert now, even if they were in the middle of the Trade Lane. Soon enough, the two of them exited the Trade Lane and arrived at Freistadt.

"Freistadt, this is Freelancer Hotel 4-0, how are things in the system?" Perkins asked.

"Hotel 4-0, we're picking up reports of a large fight between the Hessians and the Corsairs within the system again. Stay alert. No telling where those two will strike next." replied Freistadt.

"Roger that Freistadt. Thanks for the tip. Hotel 4-0 out." Perkins said into the comms. "Keep alert Aela. We're only one trade lane away from the gate, but that is where they will most likely strike," he said to her, as he carefully directed the ship towards the next trade lane.

Aela simply nodded and kept her eyes firmly glued to the window, keeping an eye out for any sign of attack, even as they traveled through the Trade Lane.

Suddenly, the ship violently dropped out of the Trade Lane, and Aela couldn't help but panic as the ship jerked around. The energy tunnel simply broke apart as if it was never there! What exactly happened? All she knew was that the computer was now in it's calm feminine voice saying "Trade Lane disrupted." What was going on?

Then she looked out the cockpit, and was treated to a dazzlingly deadly dance.

A small transport sat in the middle of the Trade Lane, between two trade lane rings. A few of the smaller ships, shaped like a graceful bird of sorts, were flying around the transport, like some great beast surrounded by flies. Meanwhile, two other groups of ships made swooping attacks on the transport, or occasionally, on one of it's protectors. Aela could definitely make out two distinct groups of ships amongst the attackers, most likely the Hessians and Corsairs Perkins had mentioned. One group was much more numerous, they used ships shaped like an arrowhead, with a little tail pointing downwards. The other group's ships meanwhile, while not as numerous, were doing quite well with ships shaped like a bird, but more predatory, reminding her much of Turian design really. While both groups were clearly fighting the transport and its escorts, they weren't afraid to take pot shots at each other too. The ships were all… simply dancing around each other, spewing out lethal beams of light at each other, all likely some HUD induced visual display to help visualize the situation. It was all strangely beautiful in it's terrifying way, somewhat like what her mother's Commando days...

"Goddamn it, we've got to get out of here." Perkins said as he tried to activate the Cruise Drive. The pirates though seemed to take offense though, and the computer beeped a warning about incoming missiles. Perkins deployed the countermeasures on-board but to no avail. In no time, Aela was rocked back in her seat as the ship shook from the impacts.

* * *

Of all the bleeding times to be attacked, it had to be now.

Though of course it would happen now, it was the middle of the Omega 7 system. Either the Hessians or the Corsairs would've hit, and at least both of them decided to hit at the same time.

Still, Perkins was in his element. The asteroid fields and the Nebula could only play into his favour. He just needed to survive long enough for the Trade Lane to come back online.

"Are you alright there, Aela?" Perkins said worriedly.

"I'm fine." she replied. Good help would be appreciated here.

"Right then," Perkins said, keeping his best commander voice up. "Remember what I told you your duties would be? Well now's the time."

Seeing Aela's little look of panic, like that of so many unblooded recruits, Perkins continued in his Commander's voice, "Stay calm. We should be fine. They would be after the transport, not us. A few of them are making their way towards us, but it's nothing I can't handle. Just keep your eye on our shield and hull levels and apply the bots and batteries when needed. Do you understand?"

She simply nodded, and Perkins went about to do his job: Keeping her safe on her tour round the colonies. Then he could take his great big paycheck and maybe retire from the life of a freelancer, maybe even go out and buy the bar back aboard the Stirling to be with the mates again.

Perkins snapped himself out of his daydreaming though. Now was not the time. He could see a couple of the Hessians break away to attack him. Good. If they were former miners, then chances are that they would fight like the Mollies. So Perkins made his way deeper into the asteroid fields of the nebula, careful to not stray too far away from the Trade Lane.

The two Hessians quickly followed, just as Perkins anticipated. Here he could quite possibly take out one or both of them, or failing that, hold them off long enough for the Trade Lane to recharge. What was worrying was that these Hessians would be using Positron shields and Laser Weaponry, ideal to taking on his current armament. Still, he was confident enough that he could at least give them a good show.

Perkins knew they would soon be in range, as he saw the asteroids come ever closer, so he quickly put his ship into a roll, making it as difficult as possible for them to get a good hit. Still, with lasers, it was easy enough to get a few hits in with their ludicrous refire rate, and he could see his shields dip a bit.

The tricky part would be coming up soon, as he deliberately started to roll towards one of the larger asteroids. He just needed to kill his ship's forward acceleration at just the right moment…

Now! He killed the ships engines that were directing him forward, and quickly activated his thrusters, facing the ship back towards the Hessians, and unleashed a volley. He landed a couple of good clean shots on one of them in his Stiletto heavy fighter, enough to get a few flames on him, and enough to get the other Hessian to swerve away wildly into an asteroid. Shame for the new guy, no vet Hessian would ever have made that mistake, Perkins could've nabbed a kill if he targeted that guy. As it was, he was saved only by his shields, as the asteroid moved deeper into the nebula.

Now was Perkins' chance to make for the Trade Lane and run, so putting his engines on full power once more, he gunned for the Trade Lane, and reading them as active once more, quickly headed off the Transport. He quickly initiated docking procedures with the Trade Lane, and the oh so comforting energy tunnel it made soon surrounded them. Perkins then allowed himself a small little sigh of relief after that.

God, he could really use a drink. Fighting always made him want a drink. Maybe when they land on New Berlin, they could do a quick visit to a bar. That's culture after all… right?


	12. Chapter 12

Thessia  
Parnitha System

_Matriarch Benezia_

_I've attached to this letter my report on what we've managed to learn so far on the Humans and some of what the other Council members think. While they seem violent, based on our first contact with them, I believe that these people are not another Krogan. The very fact that they roam the stars suggests that they are not nearly as violent, not to mention the fact that they achieved so much in terms of technology. I'm sure that they have much to offer in music, arts, philosophy, culture, all of which they must have. Surely for them to be so advanced, these people must have an equally long history, one where they have learned and created many wondrous items. A little Asari wisdom, and I believe that these people could be a beacon of light in our dark galaxy, just like us Asari. I think, that in time, we can be good friends with these Humans._

_Councillor Tevos_

The Council of Matriarchs was not something that happened everyday, thought Matriarch Benezia as she slowly approached the Council chambers. The last time a Council happened was during the Geth uprising against the Quarians. They had agreed, by only a shallow margin, that the Quarians broke the law, and thus should pay for their actions. The Council was for decisions that not everyone should be privy to, at least at first. This was one of the few times not everything was openly released onto the intranet debates. Something like this required the… wisdom of their elders.

Still, as Benezia, moved forward into the chambers and took her seat near the front, she couldn't help but feel that, despite the centuries of Asari benevolently guiding civilization in the galaxy, a great wind of change was approaching. Maybe the Asari wouldn't be so passive with the arrival of the Humans. Maybe more Commandoes would be trained, to take a more… active part of guiding this civilization toward peace and stability, a safer place for young Liara.

"Fellow Matriarchs," spoke Matriarch Aenia, one of the more moderate Matriarchs around. "We've gathered here today to discuss the discovery of a new civilization, one that is even more advanced than we are. Humans. As I'm sure you've all read in the reports from both Tevos and Captain T'Loni, these Humans have managed to create their own form of FTL through wormhole generation, energy weapons and shielding, as well as superbly hard armor without any any use of the Mass Effect. That is only the very tip of the iceberg. We aren't sure of the computing capabilities or even what they would consider civilian technology. Mere miners managed to cripple the Gladius, a state of the art Turian frigate, on their first volley. I wouldn't be surprised at all if these Humans are so advanced that it would take us a few centuries to understand what they would consider "basic" knowledge."

She let that hang in the air a bit, letting her words sink in. Millennia of Asari leading the way, both technologically, and culturally, could be wiped out overnight by the Humans. "However," she continued. "These Humans seem to have one underlying weakness. An incredible sense of violent factionalism. Four major factions, or Houses, live in this Sirius sector, and from what we can tell, they are very different, just from the names alone. The Republic of Liberty, Kingdom of Bretonia, Kusari Empire, Federal Republic of Rhineland. Each of them are likely to have very different cultures and ideals. This is why one reason why we sent in Dr. D'Avo: to gather information on both the culture and the technology of the Humans. We do this so that when the time comes, we can bring them into the Citadel, and deal with them on our terms. We can then set to work on… properly educating these Humans, and maybe bring a little more stability and peace into their lives."

A wave of applause came in from her fellow Matriarchs. It all sounded so simple, but Aethya's words about what she heard about the humans still rung in her ears. "I bet you a million reds that those Humans would rather ally with someone they hate over someone they don't know. They'll join, but they'll never join on our terms Bezzie, just to spite us I think. I can feel it. "

She had a good point there, and she couldn't help but wonder if this was the end of an era, and the start of a new one.

* * *

Sur'Kesh  
Prana System

_Dalatrass Binosh_

_I've managed to gather some information on these Humans. Reports suggest highly divisive culture, with each faction following different ideologies and having a different culture altogether. Ripe for spreading discontent. Many secessionist terrorist groups as well. May be able to win influence by supporting the right groups. Keep this information within circle of course. Suggest only a few STG groups to begin observations of this Tau 30 system, may find alternate path to rest of Sirius Sector._

_Councilor Valern_

Dalatrass Binosh was, for lack of a better term, a spymaster.

It didn't really encompass all the subtleties her position as Dalatrass of one of the largest and most influential clans in Sur'Kesh, but it would suffice. Right now though, the newest species to be encountered, Humans, were a threat to the stability and peace the Salarian Union had worked hard to maintain. It was very likely that these Humans with their factionalism could spark a war over their technology or their favor.

Which is why she needed to curb that influence. Fast.

That was what the STG were for though. Gather intelligence, then apply it in the most devastating manner possible

"Captain Tiral," she said to the green skinned Salarian before her, both of his horns having been cut off in one of his missions on Tuchanka. "I need you to take a team and as stealthy a vessel you can find. Head to this Tau 30 system, and map it out. Find everything you can about it, from planets to the asteroid fields. I want that system thoroughly investigated. T'Loni's reports indicate these… Mollies came from somewhere that wasn't the Human gate. We need to find that point of entry into the Sirius sector."

"Affirmative Ma'am. I'll get right on it. Orders for after we discover it though?" he said, his voice calm and professional.

"Transmit your findings to the usual location, then try to follow into Human space and make your own observations, but make contact a week after your initial transmission. As usual, if you are discovered…"

"Standard Protocol." he said as he left the room.

Good. Knowledge was half the battle, and with the STG, she would very likely get what she needed to secure stability within the Galaxy as quietly as possible.

* * *

Palaven  
Trebia System

_Primarch Fedorian_

_I'm sure you've read the reports on the Humans by both me and Captain T'Loni._

_I cannot help but feel that these Humans will be a problem for the foreseeable future. If their miners could take out one of our state of the art frigates, the Gladius, then I feel that we must upscale our production of ships._

_If these Humans join the CItadel, their criminals would very likely begin to spread to our systems and, worse, the Terminus systems. Things could only get worse from there. We must step up our military production and research. More joint ventures with the Salarians on the technological end, and maybe a few training sessions with a few Commando groups should help prepare them for operational readiness. I also feel that we must have some of the analysts at the Palatine Institute to look at the footage we have of the skirmish between the Mollies and the Bretonnians. An understanding of their tactics would most certainly help if a battle were to occur. It may help us narrow down their advantages in terms of technology._

_I sincerely hope that these recommendations I give are that of someone paranoid, and not predictions of a future to come. If what I suspect comes true, then I merely hope that we have done enough._

_Councilor Sparatus_

When the people of the Galaxy think of a Turian, they thought of someone who would protect them, their own bodyguard against the dangers of the galaxy, both big and small. From pirate groups to petty thieves, Turians would handle them for you.

Fedorian had the… unfortunate pleasure of seeing a future where that simply would not be true. If these humans had as much petty in-fighting as suspected, with the level of technology they had… it would be nearly impossible for Turians to enforce the law.

Which is why they needed to compensate in some way. If not in technology, then at least in numbers, or, as the premier military organization in the Citadel, tactics and strategy.

Fedorian knew that a war between them and the humans would them would be horrible. They controlled the only known route into their systems, and they had weapons that bypassed nearly all of the Citadel fleet's defences. They could maybe, just maybe overwhelm them with numbers, but all it would win them would be a single system. The rest of their sector was only accessible by a single... jump gate, controlled by them. Only people they approve of got in or out.

Here, he sincerely hoped the Asari would be able to use their legendary diplomacy to ensure peace. Peace would be good, it was something any good soldier wants. There are after all, no winners in war, only survivors.

Still, if the Turian Hierarchy was to fight these humans, they must be able to at least fight smarter, take on these Human ships, and maybe not be too far behind.

Which is why he was here, in the Palatine Institute, where the very finest in Turian military scientists were discussing the footage they managed to capture of the human ships. Understanding the way they fought would be key in ensuring victory in any engagement, whether pirate or military.

"What can you tell me, Gaius?" Sparatus asked his close friend, Ret. General Gaius Calix. A veteran of many campaigns against pirates, General Calix was considered one of the finest Generals within the Turian Navy.

"I think, that we need to change the way we fight completely," Gaius said, his voice quite grim. "Look, we both know standard operating procedure in naval battles, basically long range engagements where we throw Slugs at each other from great distances. At worst, we move to medium range, where frigates and cruisers go to torpedoes. Then knife fighting range, normally for the occasional cruiser or frigate that gets through a screen, though that never happens with pirates."

"With these humans though… I don't think that could apply. They seem to rely heavily on their fighters. They could easily slip past any of our main guns, survive the GARDIAN batteries, then take out or cripple our long range capabilities, allowing their bigger ships to move in and mop up. It took concentrated GARDIAN fire to take out one of their fighters, and it was one of their miners too. Not to mention their own energy weapons outrange ours. It also looks like these fighters of theirs don't really need a support ship either, seeing as… this Captain Perkins was on patrol an entire system away from its home ship. We need something new to take this on, Primarch."

"What of our own fighters? Are they not capable of taking on these Human fighters?" Fedorian asked a little worriedly.

Gaius shook his head and replied grimly, "While certainly some of the best and most experienced in the Citadel, our own Fighters wouldn't be able to do much against these Human fighters. It only takes one hit for them to take out one of our own, while I suspect we would need far more with those energy shields of theirs."

"Perhaps a change in battlefield doctrine? " Fedorian suggested. "We could specialize our ships more? Definitely up our point defence systems. " While Fedorian wasn't the finest military mind, he was certainly one of the better ones in the Hierarchy. You didn't get to the top without earning it in Turian society. He hoped his own idea had merit.

Gaius paused a bit, clearly giving the idea some thought. "It could work… The crews would need retraining and we would need to draw up new ways to arrange fleets but I think it could work. Frigate sized gunboats, filled with nothing but point defence to take down small ships." Gaius smiled a bit, a little bit of hope in his face.

"Primarch, I think we can beat them."

* * *

Omega  
Sahabrik System

_Aria_

_As agreed, I've forwarded you something I know you would find very interesting._  
_I know whatever newcomers come out of the Sirius Sector will head there._  
_Please remind them of your Rule._

_Tevos_

There are many in the Galaxy who would call Omega a wretched hive of scum and villainy. They certainly wouldn't be wrong in that regard.

Essentially a space station attached to an asteroid, Omega was the premier location in the galaxy for drugs, guns, black market goods and services. If you needed a drug, Omega had it. If you needed someone eliminated, there was someone on Omega who would do it for you. The biggest merc groups in the galaxy had major operations here, from the Blood Pack to the Eclipse. Lives and secrets were bought and sold here daily, and for the right people, this was a land of opportunity.

As long as they remembered who was in charge, at least. The one person everyone on Omega answered to.

Aria T'Loak. Queen Bitch of Omega. Essentially, the most powerful crime lord to take the throne of Omega. Nearly everyone within the Terminus systems did business with her, and nearly as many people answered to her.

Which is why it isn't surprising to find that more than a few… influential Asari answered to her as well. A few favors traded between Matriarchs and all that. Thus, this report was essentially a warning of things to come. Things that could hurt the one thing she really truly cared about aside from her position of Queen of Omega.

Liselle. Her daughter. It may be time to bring her back home under her watchful eye. Especially after what she had read.

Humans. A game changer to be sure. New guns, new FTL, new shields, all of which would affect business on her home turf. And knowing people, they had to have their own criminals as well. Even Turians had scumbags, and a lot of them worked for her. And if they had criminals, they had business to bring. New drugs, new goods, new secrets. From all of which she would take a little cut. A… service fee for the location provided.

Still. It was best to be cautious about this sort of thing. Perhaps she should ask Patriarch for more Krogan? The more intelligent ones at least. Ones she was sure could… competently follow orders. Perhaps train a few Vorcha Blood Pack style as well. Never hurts to have some meat shields.

Still. Those Humans had a dark side, that she was sure. Eventually, they'd make their way to the end of the Galaxy. Omega.

She'd be waiting.

Someone had to teach them Omega's only rule.

* * *

Hagalaz  
Sowilo System

_To: Shadow Broker_  
_From: Operative Tower_

_The reports from the Council are worrying sir. These Humans seem to be a completely tech base, and we have no idea how to infiltrate their systems. The only known point of ingress into their area is the Tau 30 system. Knowing the Salarians though, an STG team is being deployed there already. I suggest a closer look at STG comm buoys for the foreseeable future. I expect they'll have plenty of data on these Humans, providing with us with much at little risk._

_Still, any data on these Humans would change the balance no matter who you give it to. I suggest holding on to it until a… change is required._

Throughout the Galaxy, if there was something that needed to be found, some secret, some little bit of information, there was only one person to head to to learn the answer.

The Shadow Broker.

Some say he's a myth, and that the people who are under his name are merely very good information brokers. Some say it's just a moniker used by a group.

Those that say it's one very well hidden person though, would be very right.

Hidden aboard his ship, literally riding the eternal storm on Hagalaz, The Shadow Broker pondered this newest bit of information.

Humans. A New race, with new technology, new culture, new parameters. No agents within, no knowledge of them.

Yet. What data he had on them was… interesting.

Heavy factionalism and a miner's rebellion in one of them. Suggests that there may be more rebels and criminals within their systems.

And those types are always willing to pay for services he can provide.

It was all a matter of finding agents there. To find agents, he needed to get his hand a little dirty.

That was what his Operatives were for, though.

_To: Operative Galaz_  
_From: Shadow Broker_

_New mission. Proceed to the Tau 30 system. Observe until official Citadel relations open trade, then proceed into the Sirius sector. I want you to begin low level information gathering and recruiting. Standard procedure applies._

Now, all he had to do was wait.

The Shadow Broker eventually finds everyone's secrets, after all.


	13. Chapter 13

In Orbit of Planet New Berlin  
New Berlin System

Aela had most certainly not expected fighting like that.

She had not expected a pirate attack like that at all.

Pirates back… home would try and board their targeted ships, often crippling them first then towing them to wherever it is they brought their loot. Then they either took you hostage or turned you into a slave. If you were lucky. Sometimes they preferred to just put a bullet in your head.

Here… she was no expert, but it looked like they were outright aiming to destroy the transport, then haul off whatever was left over. She was no stranger to pirate attacks. Any expedition in the Terminus systems could encounter one and she had to be prepared for it, but for the life of her she could not imagine pirates back in the Citadel acting like this.

Still, now she was getting a taste of Rhineland, as they sat in orbit of the planet they were to land on.

New Berlin. From the looks of it, a planet that was incredibly cold, near Noveria levels according to their instruments. Perkins had also given her access to their version of the Extranet, and she had found a few interesting facts about Rhinelands' capital.

Extra slow planetary rotation, nearly yearlong winters and summers. Winter was a perpetual night for a year. Summer, on the other hand, lead to a slightly more pleasant slightly above freezing. Rather harsh conditions for living here. Most food on planet was grown in underground hydroponic farms, and buildings are specially designed to deal with the extreme cold.

Certainly a place for a culture of excellent engineers to thrive, thought Aela. They'd have to be to select this planet as their first. Aela thought it made sense, especially since the nearby Stuttgart had too much Oxygen to perform any sort of heavy industry.

Still, Aela couldn't help but start to think about what she'd seen of these Rhinelanders so far, as they slowly crawled forward into the docking ring. She'd seen their engineering marvel, The Ring, and it was certainly something to be proud of. It was also the largest station in the Sirius Sector, something she could quite easily believe. A Refinery/Manufacturing/Assembly plant, all in one station, truly remarkable.

Aela could also start to get a feel of just how… different her encounter with these Rhinelanders would be. Just from the designs of the ships she encountered. The Massive RM Westfalen, while certainly quite menacing, and likely the equal of the HMS Stirling she got to know, was certainly different.

A fortress with engines is how she would describe it. Massive gun emplacements on each side, each, in her head at least, quite capable of gutting a Cruiser from any of the Citadel navies in one blow. It was most definitely designed not to look pretty, but to get the job done as efficiently as possible.

Then there were the smaller Rhineland vessels she spotted.

The military ones, the Valkyries, were very different from the Crusader she was in now. According to Perkins, "Bloody things are so well designed, only Liberty's newest fighters even come close to them." It had a humpbacked rear and stubby wings, once again marking itself very different from Bretonnian designs. Sturdy, even by Human standards along with an excellent power plant, allowing for more liberal use of weaponry, meant that this was one of the finest fighters in the Sirius Sector. Even with the major recession, Rhineland had managed to design and manufacture these marvels of engineering.

The police ones, and she shuddered at just what kind of damage a police vehicle could do to a military Citadel vessel, were the much smaller Banshees. Similar design, with diagonally pointed wings rather than the flat ones of the Valkyrie. The Banshee was still one machine that she really would not like to see the business end of. She was pretty sure it alone could take on a Turian frigate and win.

All of this pointed to a faction that had such different design philosophies clearly indicated to Aela that Rhinelanders would be very different from the Bretonnians she met so far.

Still, as they landed onto the landing pad, she was quite surprised to see one sign with two languages on it, with one clearly not English. She didn't expect them to be that different.

"Perkins," she asked her ever present guide/bodyguard. "What does that sign say?" she said, as she pointed out the offending sign.

"That?" Perkins asked confusedly. "I thought you could read English?"

"I can, but I'm not asking about that."

"Then what are you- ohhh… I get it." said Perkins, a look of realization hitting him. "It's Willkommen. It's German for 'Welcome', I think."

"German?" she asked. These Humans had more than one language in use even now? That would likely help in understanding them a little better. It wasn't uncommon for Asari to know more than one language. There were quite a few languages on Thessia, even today, though there was one language that everyone generally knew how to speak.

"You see," Perkins explained as they headed towards one building Perkins assured her would be a good place to rest. "English is the sort of unofficial language of the colonies, what with half of the Houses, Bretonia and Liberty, have it as their mother tongue. Kusari and Rhineland won't admit it though, because they have their own language, German and Japanese, and Kusari even has their own complicated little letters. Thing is, nearly everyone speaks a little English, normally enough to conduct trade. Now, I'm sure your translator isn't geared toward German, but don't worry. Where we're going, everyone speaks English. Just asks me if his accent is too thick for your translator to pick it up." he finished with a smile, as they approached one building emitting some rather… loud music. It rather reminded her of some of her more… questionable maiden days.

Sure enough when they entered, she was looking at a place that many a young Asari maiden would go to for their excitement.

"Welcome to New Berlin" said the bartender over the roar of the music. "Drinks are on the house for the first alien here!"

* * *

Goddess. If it weren't for the hair and the odd colouring, not to mention the male Humans, Aela would've sworn it was just like her maiden days on Omega…

The music, the drinking and oh goddess, the dancing. It could've been straight out of a scene from Eternity, the club on Omega where she may have spent a year or two performing some Asari art. Though the dancers could most certainly stand to learn a thing or two from the Asari.

Still, as Aela approached the bar with Perkins, she was immediately handed a huge mug of an amber coloured drink by the smiling bartender.

"For something like this, I think that we all need some good beer first!" he roared over the music as he and other fellow bartenders quickly started filling mugs with more of this 'beer' and handing it out to the patrons.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! To the first alien in Rhineland! Prost!" he roared as he moved his mug forward, while somehow still managing to keep eye contact with her.

"Prost!" roared the rest of the club/bar as they all clanked their mugs towards each other, then started drinking the beer quickly.

Aela mimicked their actions as best as she could, and feeling the center of attention all being on her, she started to drink her own, presumably alcoholic, beer. It had a pleasantly bitter taste with a hint of earthiness that somehow just made it a better.

Still, there was no way she could down that whole mug of beer in the first go, and so, having drunk a little, tried to look for Perkins. She had lost sight of him in the mass of people moving towards her, and now he couldn't see him.

"Could you come with me please Frau," said one feminine, almost Asari, voice beside her. She quickly turned around and came face to face with a female Human. Her brown hair was tied up in a bun, and her features were sharp, giving stark contrast to her very Asari-like blue eyes. "We have much to discuss."

Aela figured these must be some of the local security forces. Perhaps Perkins missed a check-in with them, and thus were with them already? Thinking that, she quickly followed them, toward a more quiet portion of the club. Here, she wouldn't need to shout just to be heard.

"Thank you for coming with me Frau...?', the woman asked

Aela guessed that Frau was some sort of title like Miss or Doctor so she figured the woman was asking for her name. "Aela D'Avo," she replied. "And you are?'

'"Marie Bauman." she quickly replied. "I represent a group that would like to send you a message."

Aela immediately grew suspicious. This woman was clearly not part of a security detail. "I should go," she said as she stood up, but Marie quickly grabbed her arm.

"This is a quick message only, and it is one that paints the plight of some of the people in Rhineland." she said.

That made her stop and think a bit. This could be useful information for the negotiating team that will come. So she stayed and listened.

"I represent the Landwirtrechtbewegung, Unioners and the Bundschu."

"What." Aela replied. That definitely did not translate.

"The Farmer's Right's Movement, or more commonly known as the LWB, a… smaller group of the WVS, the Farmer's Union. We three groups have decided to send a collective message to you, the Alien who represents a wind of change here in Rhineland." she said, a hint of hope in her voice.

"Rhineland was once a proud nation. One full of hope and promise. Now… now we are a people broken, forced to pay for the mistakes of a few mad people in power. Promises were made before by our government. Promises that were broken, hence our… disagreements with them. Understand that while the current government calls us terrorists and criminals, we merely fight for the rights of the common man. The LWB fights for the small farmer, as they are oppressed by the machinations of SynthPaste. The Unioners fight for the rights of the shipyard workers, for humane conditions at the very least. The Bundschu fight ultimately, for a change in the government. A government that cares for the volk, not the old elite few. A government that will not be bought, and so easily sell the lives of its people. We all fight for the people of Rhineland. We hope that your leaders can somehow influence our government. Force them to treaties promising better rights. That is all we wanted to say." she said as she stood up.

"Enjoy your stay here in Rhineland, Frau D'AVo. Know that you are under our protection while you are here. No one will try to harm you or Herr Perkins, save perhaps the Corsairs. We see you as possibly the hope of Rhineland. The Corporations see you as an opportunity. Tread lightly from here on, Frau. Not everyone likes change." she said with finality, before disappearing into the mass of the club.

That was… strange. It was certainly not something she expected to happen to her while she was here.

"There you are!" shouted the now familiar voice of Perkins from behind Aela. "Where were you? I lost you during that toast everyone was giving to you,"

"I met an… interesting woman." Aela said. This sounded like something she needed to keep to herself and her reports to the Council.

"I do hope you remembered to say no to any drugs offered right?" Perkins said worriedly.

"Yes. It was exactly why she left." Aela quickly replied. "I wasn't being… cooperative in that sense."

"Good on you." Perkins cheerily replied. "Cardamine does bad things to Humans as is. I'd be worried to see what it would do to an alien."

Aela could only nod at that, as Perkins brought her to the bar once more for another round of drinks and oh Goddess that woman could certainly use a lesson from her.

Another one of these beers couldn't hurt now right? She thought to herself as another mug of the amber liquid was put in front of her and she drank it down.

* * *

Aela woke up to find herself in an unfamiliar room.

The first thing that came to mind was where was she?

Then came the question of what happened last night?

Then came the question of where is Perkins?

Then came the realization that she had no clothes on. With that last one, she quickly started putting on her scattered pieces of clothing.

Just what had happened last night? It was like she was a Maiden again! She was supposed to have danced-

"I see you're awake now," said the familiar voice of Perkins. Aela turned around and sure enough, there he was by the door, with his back towards her. "Go on, get dressed," he said playfully. "I'm sure that after last night's festivities you must be rather hungry."

She was rather hungry. After a night of drinking, she always was, "I'd love that. You can also turn around now."

"Good. I've taken the liberty of ordering us some room service. A nice and hearty Rhinelander brekkie for us." he said cheerily as he walked towards her. "I've always wanted to try one."

Aela saw this time waiting as an opportunity. "Perkins. What happened last night?"

"You don't remember?" he said a little disbelievingly at first. Then he relaxed a bit. "I guess you aliens aren't too different. I'm guessing you don't remember much if you drink a lot?"

"Not everyone reacts the same way to alcohol, though there are definitely similarities across species." she explained.

"Fair enough. Though what you did last night was amazing." Perkins said, mischievously.

Aela had a little feeling in her gut that she knew what exactly she did last night. "Did I happen to… go onstage?"

"Yes you did," Perkins said as he continued to keep up that devilish smile of his.

"Oh Goddess…. " he said into her hand. She promised herself she wouldn't make Asari look bad. She must have danced horribly!

"Let me just say this. If you, an Archaeologist, can dance like that, then I can confidently tell you that there is going to be a lot of cultural 'tourism' towards your space. Heck, I can see a lot of the nobs, and Liberty elite paying a fortune for what you pulled up there!"

Huh. She knew that Asari tended to attract other species, but she didn't really expect what she considered is her horribly off beat dancing to be good. Maybe she had inadvertently just created a good image for the Asari?

Yay her?

"Excuse me Herr Perkins, Frau D'Avo." interrupted a voice from a speaker. Likely a steward from the... hotel they were in. "I have your breakfast as ordered."

Perkins walked towards the door and let the man in. He had with him a cart with what looked like some sort of sausages, some very dark looking bread, and oh Goddess, two very tall pitchers of the amber liquid called Beer. "Guten appetit," the steward said before leaving the room.

While she welcomed the bread and the sausages, she wasn't quite comfortable with the idea of having alcohol this early in the day. Perkins though, looked to be quite excited and had started to sip his beer.

"Don't worry," he said after a sip of his beer. "It's rather light, more refreshing than the one we had last night."

Deciding to trust Perkins on this, she grabbed her glass of beer, and took a little sip. True enough, compared to last night, this drink had a much lighter, refreshing tone of flavor. The dark thick bread she had also seemed to work well with it, and she was enjoying the flavors of the sausages.

"This is quite good," she said as she prepared to take another bite out of the bread.

"It is." Perkins replied as he sipped his beer. "Quite different from a Bretonnian one. We don't normally have beer with our breakfast for one thing." he said the last bit with a slight chuckle.

"You know, I didn't expect the Rhinelanders to be like this." Aela said. "I rather expected a more formal and quiet first meeting."

"Like I said." Perkins replied with a slight shrug. "People are people. Not everyone acts the same. Could be that the few Rhinelanders I met were like that. Sure they have a reputation throughout the Sirius sector for being quite… cold, but here, on New Berlin, I see they're people like me. A little different sure, I find it weird at the amount of beer they drink here, but still people."

That made sense, Aela thought. Back home, not every Asari was alike. Some loved the thrills of Merc work too much to abandon the lifestyle. Some liked the arts, some were practically Turian in mindset.

Really, Aela thought that these Humans weren't too different. She could really see the Humans eventually going to be well liked among the Citadel races.

"Well," Perkin said, as he finished off his beer. "You better get dressed. We're scheduled to meet with the Chancellor soon. I expect he'll give you a better overview of Rhineland than I can." With that, Perkins got up and left the room, likely to go freshen up before the meeting.

Aela quickly finished her meal, and prepared to clean up a bit. Really, she needed to look her best when meeting heads of state.

* * *

Der Reichstag

New Berlin, New Berlin system

Aela had, after breakfast, managed to get herself into a presentable state in her white dress. Perkins had also somehow managed to look immaculate once more in his own dress uniform. And now, they were sitting in an aircar, as they slowly approached the center of the Rhineland government, 'Der Reichstag.'

It was certainly something quite grand. A huge building that certainly shared some similarities with the Bretonnian Museum. She could see some aspects of the Roman architecture, now that she knew what to look for, the pillars in the front, the flight of stairs leading to the entrance, the slight overhang over the entrance. The building was meant to present the image of power, and what better way than with what has obviously been ingrained into the minds of the people as what a temple should look like?

Still, there were some differences in design as well. She noted the huge metallic dome in the center of the building, the greenish statues on top of the building, the huge arched windows on the sides, all of which something the Rhinelanders obviously added to make Die Reichstag their own.

She once again prepared herself for her meeting with the Chancellor. The head of state of one of the four Houses of Sirius. A man who governed the lives of billions of people.

She tried to remember what it was like when she met King Alexander, what she did to make herself calm. It was a similar situation after all, right?

A few minutes later, after a brief security check at the front, Aela soon found herself in front of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Rhineland: Erik Reinhardt.

He certainly cut a very imposing figure, what with the way he literally towered over her, and his golden hair framed his hawkish features. Looking into his eyes, she got the feeling like she was talking to some Turian veteran.

"Guten Tag, Herr Perkins, und Frau...?" the man said, his accent both sharp and cultured.

"Aela D'Avo." she courteously replied.

"Frau D'Avo. A pleasure to meet you." he continued in English, with hardly any trace of an accent. "I'm Chancellor Erik Reinhardt, and I would like to officially welcome you to Rhineland." he finished with a smile.

"It is indeed a pleasure," Aela in turn replied. "Thank you for the greetings into Rhineland."

"Come now. Let's head to my office. It would certainly be a more pleasant place to conduct our talks." Chancellor Reinhardt continued.

Aela simply nodded and followed the man and his entourage, taking note of the appearance of the interior. Certainly she could still see some of the Greek and Roman influences, and yet here and there she would see something else. Most dominant of them would be a stylized version of what she imagined to be a predatory bird.

"I do hope you'll stay long enough to see Emperor Pausebeck's Day." the Chancellor continued, as they walked toward his office. "It's bound to be a most amusing experience for you."

"I'm sorry?" Aela asked. He was likely referring a holiday of sorts, but a holiday of what?

"I know this story, everyone in the Colonies has heard of it," Perkins replied cheerily. "Isn't this to celebrate the day Emperor Pausebeck accidentally destroyed a city?"

"Exactly, Herr Perkins." the Chancellor continued. "Emperor Pausebeck outfitted the Ring with a huge array of terraforming mirrors, in an attempt to warm up the dark side of New Berlin. When the mirrors converged the energy of the sun into a single location, the unfortunate city of Muleheim, well… it simply ceased to be. He had inadvertently created the largest laser ever seen in the colonies. Every year since then, we do something a little foolish that day, in memory of what he did."

That was… certainly a little disturbing. She hadn't expected a race of superb engineers to _accidentally_ create a superlaser. While rumor had it that the Batarians had a similar system, they had constructed that on purpose. Even her own people had a planet-encircling supercollider in the design phase, but to design something like this by accident?

What if they wanted to build one on purpose?

"Here we are." said the Chancellor, as they entered what was presumably his office.

It was certainly a rather simple one, with a sturdy looking metallic desk and a few comfortable-looking chairs. A flag hung in the corner, bearing green background with a black cross covering it, likely the flag of Rhineland.

"Now, I'm sure you have plenty of questions about Rhineland. Please, take a seat and feel free to ask any question that comes to mind."

"Well…" Aela cautiously advanced. "I'm rather curious as to well… Rhineland's plans for removing itself from the recession that I've heard you are in."

Chancellor Reinhardt, at that, calmly steepled his fingers, and took a good long look at her. Aela found it quite disconcerting at how he looked at her, as if she was put under a spotlight.

"Frau D'Avo, what Rhineland is experiencing now is merely a result of… the mistakes of our Imperial predecessors. It is my goal and duty to try and fix their many, many mistakes. Which I can assure you is no small feat." he replied, his tone cold, calm and matter-of-fact.

"In order to finance their foolish war, the old Emperors made a deal with Liberty, asking for extraordinary amount of credits to fund the war effort. They were so sure that victory would mean that they could easily pay off whatever debt they had to Liberty, thanks to their essential material independence. They didn't even think to consider what would happen if they lost. Or if they could even pay it back if they won."

"When Rhineland eventually lost the 80-year war, we were a crippled nation. Battered and beaten, with much of our fleet lost to the GMG, Liberty came in calling for what we owed them. Conditions just worsened from there on, and soon, as I'm sure you've heard, the Popular Revolution happened. A new Republic as born, and now I, the current Chancellor, have the unenviable position of fixing this mess."

"We've done what we could, really." he said, his voice remaining neutral. "I've personally negotiated better terms to Liberty in exchange for letting them have de-facto control of Stuttgart. We've had to, sadly, go back on some of the promises we made. Better working conditions, a through investigation of the old families and the megacorporations. Let more than a few of the companies that we suspect helped push for the war get away without any proper investigation. This has… angered more than a few people. I´m afraid a few of the… original revolutionaries didn´t agree with our policy and have as such gone back to their old ways, harassing us wherever they feel it´s necessary, often targeting the companies that they feel are responsible for the war, both Daumann and Kruger."

"I will be frank with you Frau D'Avo, our situation here is not good. We're forced to sell surplus military equipment to anyone , so long as they have both the credits and the… necessary reputation... to help gather funds to stimulate our economy. It is simply that bad. We do what we must for our people, but with the increasing problem of piracy, and our diminishing economy, it is a most difficult enterprise."

"Which is where I hope your people will be able to help us, Frau D'Avo." he said. "Rhineland has much to offer, we have some of the finest engineers in the Sirius sector, and I'm sure our… technology will be of much interest to your people. I'm sure that Bretonia has made similar offers, and I'm sure that the other Houses will, but know that each of the Houses have a different… specialization."

He suddenly stood up, and turned to face that flag in his room. "I know that the times are changing, Frau D'Avo. The Emperors tried to change the balance of things here in the Sirius Sector, and came off the worse. Now… I am sure that Liberty will lose it's position as the most powerful House of Sirius. Who knows, maybe Rhineland can thrive here, where I foresee Liberty will flounder." he ended.

That was certainly an… interesting viewpoint. For one thing, to blatantly admit that people in good standing, civilians, could purchase a Rhineland military grade fighter, certainly spoke volumes about what dire straits they were in. Aela had no doubt that these people were marvelous engineers, the Ring was proof enough of that. She was sure that they could greatly benefit the Citadel, and their economy could also likely be a point that the Matriarchs could aid in, in exchange for technology of course.

Still, Rhineland was most certainly in an interesting position that the Matriarchs could take advantage of in the coming negotiations. She could see them being approached by the Turians for their engineering skills, and the Salarians for their technology. Things could improve in Rhineland given some Citadel intervention, and the Citadel would in turn benefit.

"Now, I have some of my own questions for you Frau D'Avo." Chancellor Reinhardt said, breaking her line of thought. "Please, do tell me about your own people."

Aela, once again, began her long explanation of the Asari Republics. She was sure this wouldn't be the last time she would be talking about it.


	14. Chapter 14

Orbit of New Berlin  
New Berlin System

To say that that things could only get more interesting from here on out was an understatement in Aela's eyes. For one thing, she had been approached by elements of the Rhineland rebels and told one version of events, and she also managed to get another version from the Chancellor himself.

The rebels say they want change. They want the promises made by their government to be acted on, not blatantly thrown away. They want Rhineland to be a strong nation once more. They wanted to be treated in a way appropriate to sentients. Something they feel the government failed them on.

The Chancellor on the other hand, wants the same thing, a strong nation. He just did whatever he thought was necessary to prevent the nation from falling into a crippling debt. As it was, the nation was barely kept afloat. Aela shuddered at imagining what the original loan terms were.

Both sides had their points. It was a complicated situation, and one that she didn't have the experience to properly gauge for the Matriarchs. So she could only take note of it in her report on Rhineland, as they prepared to leave for Kusari space.

Still, there was one thing she noticed, as they prepared to dock with the Trade Lane. Bonn station, according to the system map Perkins gave her, was a station that wasn't owned by a Rhineland company. In fact… it was owned by a Liberty company, Interspace Commerce.

Liberty seemed to have some presence in many systems. First the obvious SynthPaste presence on Stuttgart, then Bonn station, then the passed-by Waterloo station back in Bretonia.

"Perkins," Aela asked. "Just how powerful is Liberty? I mean, I've seen some of their presence in Bretonia, and here in Rhineland. I imagine they'll also have stations in Kusari. Just…" here she waved her hands a bit, grasping for the appropriate word in this situation, "how influential are they?"

Perkin was silent for awhile as he steadily docked with the Trade Lane towards the Frankfurt jump gate. "Liberty's been the most powerful House in Sirius for the past 700 years, Aela." Perkins said, his voice still in what Aela was starting to think of his trademark 'cool pilot' voice. "They've always had the best guns, ships, and tech. They've had the biggest and most powerful corporations too. Only Rhineland at it's peak ever came close to taking Liberty's top spot. They hold the company that has the secrets to building a Jump Gate, and the guns to make sure it stays there. Their companies insure our cargo, and finance nearly all our major projects. They even have a partial say in our crime enforcement, what with the Bounty Hunter's Guild being a institution from Liberty."

"In summary, the Liberty Yanks have a great deal of influence of what happens in the colonies. When they really want to push for something, they'll let you know. They are the biggest fish in the pond, and they are always around to remind us of it." he finished matter-of-factly as they exited the Trade Lane.

"Though," he continued casually, as they lined up for the Jump Gate, "I get the feeling that won't really be true for long. Chancellor Reinhardt was right. You Asari are going to change things up wildly here in the Sirius sector, not to mention the other aliens. You're basically making the playing field even. I don't think they can muscle in many of their… traditional advantages for long."

Aela thought that worked both ways. Asari traditionally culturally dominated the Galaxy, now… now who knew what the future would hold? Would Liberty take over what the Asari had for millennia? Or would her people manage to find a way around the inevitable change? Whatever happened, she hoped that things could be solved with but a few words.

* * *

Juneau Shipyards  
Zone 21 (Alaska System)

Everyone who lived in the Sirius sector knew that among the Houses, it was Liberty that was at the very top of the food chain. They had the best planets, tech, ships, and guns. Oh they were very friendly guys, always willing to party with you, but they were also very willing to fleece you where possible. People tended to let it slide though, because where there were Liberty tourists and companies, credits could be made. Why, even their "civilian" line of ships for export were welcomed by every house company due to their reliability and effectiveness. Hawks and Falcons, with their distinctively avian frame and extreme customizability, could be seen in nearly every corner of the Sirius sector.

It was here though, in the heart of Zone 21, that Liberty kept nearly all of its secrets to success. Few knew what happened behind the minefield and the permanent battleship blockade of that system, and nearly every person in the Sirius Sector had at least wondered what was in there. Dangerously advanced technology? A massive fleet? A prison? No one really knew, and everyone who had tried to enter, never came back. Hence, it's… special place in the minds of Sirius.

For President Richard Wallace though, the secrets of Zone 21 were an open book. In the deepest corners of Zone 21, was a top secret, off Aegira's books Jump Gate that led to a system few knew about, the Alaska system. Here lay the facilities that Liberty used to ensure that they remain the most powerful House in Sirius, the finest Shipyard in the Sirius sector bar none, and a prison that none could escape, Prison station Mitchell

Right now, President Wallace was looking out of his private lounge of the Juneau Shipyards, and he was looking at what he personally hoped would be the weapon of last resort of Liberty. A battleship that could theoretically take on just about any other ship of equal tonnage in its initial volley.

"She's beautiful isn't she Mr. President?" asked Dr. Robin Vickers, project manager for the Ra program, formerly one of the top scientists of Aegeria in the Valhalla Project's archive.

"That she is Dr. Vickers," President Wallace replied.

She had yet to be named, but this battleship's construction was being sped up significantly. Theoretically, this battleship could cloak completely, defeating any known sensor array within Sirius. She could also easily power three other ships her size.

"I'm a little worried though, M. President," Robin replied. "It's just that, while the cloaking devices are a great tactical advantage, and have been tested on smaller freighters, we've never tested it on something as large as the prototype, sir."

"I know, Dr. Vickers," President Wallace replied. "But while the CEOs of The Big Three assure me that they can readily adapt to anything the aliens bring, I'd like a little… insurance."

"I understand sir," she replied, her voice in a tone she reserved for politicians. "But at the speed you're making us go… I fear we may have ourselves an accident that could cost us the prototype."

"Then slow down a

* * *

bit." Wallace replied, as he watched the ship under construction. "After all, it wouldn't do to lose the prototype. I still want you to advance construction at fast as possible. Tell me who and what you need, and we'll get it for you."

"Thank you, Mr. President," Vickers replied, gratefully. For a moment, the both of them watched silently, seeing workers crawl over the prototype like tiny ants over a great whale.

"I've also been thinking…" Wallace said after a while, breaking the silence.

"Sir?" Vickers replied, her voice now tinged with worry.

"I want Project Starjumper started again, and I want you to head it." Wallace replied, his voice full of confidence.

"Sir!" Vickers replied shocked. "But… that project caused the great Dark Matter storms of 521! The entire Texas system was devastated, and has in fact yet to recover from it!"

"I know, and I frankly don't care Miss Vickers. The Big Three may say one thing, but the reality may be another. The LSF thinks it's an all new ballgame, with the aliens bringing in who knows what to Sirius. Some think that we can't feasibly maintain our position as top dog of Sirius. I'd like to prove them wrong. Fortune favours the bold Dr Vickers, and no one is bolder than us. Project Starjumper, if I've read what President Lee left right, could allow us to jump from one end of the _galaxy_ to the other." he said, his voice rising, trying to sway Vickers to his side. "We do this right, then we cement Liberty's position in the open Galaxy. We can make Liberty the center of the galaxy!"

Dr. Vickers could only concede that to the President. It wasn't as if she had much of a choice in the matter. The Valhalla Project archives certainly spoke of Hypergates that could do huge jumps, but still… It wasn't something that was going to be finished anytime soon.

President Wallace meanwhile, could only smile at the thought of making Liberty the literal hub of the galaxy, where everyone would go to trade, and do business.

Business on Liberty's terms. If all went to plan, Liberty could buy the rest of the Galaxy.

Outside the Frankfurt Jump Gate  
Sigma 13 system

When Aela and Perkins entered the Sigma 13 system, she was welcomed by the great blue expanse of the Crow Nebula. She and Perkins were deep in a great azure cloud. If she didn't know better, she would've thought that she and Perkins had somehow fallen beneath the seas of Thessia. Occasionally, a brief flash of lightning could be seen, illuminating the entire nebula and allowing her to make out the trade lane clearly. Light seemed to dance and flow around the nebula, as Perkins started to move the ship.

"It's beautiful," Aela sighed breathily. It was indeed, one of the things she would imagine tourists visiting the Sirius systems for, simply for some of the views she had encountered here.

"The Crow Nebula, richest source of H-Fuel in Sirius," Perkins pointed out casually, the smirk in his face practically being voiced out, as he nursed the Crusader towards the Trade Lane. "She's a right beaut, but she holds lots of danger too. I hear that there are huge pockets of oxygen within the cloud, if you aren't careful you could detonate them and promptly blow yourself up."

Aela could only nod in affirmation, and watch the great blue expanse. It really felt as if she was underwater. Really the nebula was as blue as her own skin. She had never even heard of anything like it back in Citadel Space, let alone actually seen it. She idly wondered how much a tourist would pay to visit this place when she suddenly caught a glimpse of a massive shadow briefly revealed by some lightning in the distance.

"What was-" and she gasped as the nebula cleared up a bit to give her a glimpse of what she was looking at.

"These are some of the remnants of Imperial Rhineland's Navy," Perkins calmly explained, as they exited the Trade Lane, and Aela got a clearer view of the debris field. Massive ships, similar to the Westfalen, lay broken apart, strewn over many thousands of kilometres. She could count at the very least four distinct hulls, scattered around, surrounded by smaller, but equally impressive wrecks. What she imagined to be cruiser and frigate wrecks, much smaller than the battleships, surrounded them, and occasionally she could catch a speck of what she imagined to be an ancestor of the Valkyrie Heavy Fighters. Another flash of lightning, and she could see that in the distance, were even more massive shadows, likely the rest of the fleet.

"This was where the GMG crippled Rhineland, at what they call the Battle of the Yanagi Nebula. The GMG managed to destroy a fleet several times their size, using both their knowledge of the territory and techniques that they pioneered here in the fields. All using only at best some civilian market ships sold by Liberty to all." Perkins finished, admiration clear in his voice.

Aela could only stare in both horror and awe at the wrecks of the Rhineland Imperial Navy. Such a great loss of life in mere hours, what she imagined to be the product of dozens of years of hard work in simply assembling the fleet, the very latest in technology, destroyed in mere hours. One could only be amazed by the skill and tenacity demonstrated by these GMG pilots, but a part of her was also very scared now for the Citadel should war break out.

These people had managed to take down a presumably numerically superior force. If the Citadel was to engage in hostilities against these humans, she imagined that numbers wouldn't be of much help in a fight. It would be like the Krogan Rebellions in reverse.

She'd rather not imagine who would be the winner in that war. If there were to be any that is.

"ALG and the Junkers have only recently started to clear the ruins though." Perkins explained as they exited the Trade Lane at Helgoland station. "It used to be too dangerous, what with the oxygen pocket that it was deep in. With the pocket having recently drifted away, salvagers just need to be careful not to drift near the more irradiated areas. I hear it'll cook you alive if you stay too long there."

"Radiation pockets?" Aela asked, a little shock in her voice. "Did the GMG manage to get some nuclear weapons?" If miners could get nuclear weapons easily, then who could say what the effects would be like?

"While nukes are a devastating terrorist's weapon, they simply don't have the punch to deal with proper ship armor," Perkins said as he nudged the ship towards the Trade Lane to the Gas Miner Naha."More like a side effect of leaving those ship reactors leak for near on a century now." he replied merrily, clearly trying to assuage her fears. "Really, nuclear weapons these days are a terrorist's weapon. They leave area uninhabitable and unusable, so why use them?"

That helped her calm down a bit. Humans had the good sense to limit their nuclear weapon usage. Soon enough, the remains of the Imperial Rhineland Navy disappeared once more into the Crow Nebula, as she edged ever closer towards Kusari space. She couldn't silence the small part of her that held all her doubts ever since she was a young Maiden. It was convinced that the ship graveyard was a sign of troubling times ahead.

* * *

In Orbit of New Tokyo  
New Tokyo system

After their flyby through the Sigma 13 system, Aela couldn't help but start to think of the many possible… problems that could come up soon.

She was still very early in her Matron stage at 320. She would almost certainly live long enough to see the effects of the Humans on the galaxy. They were bringing in new technology and were going to open up greater parts of the galaxy to exploration. With their Jump Gate technology, they could help set up entire hubs from which exploration ships could make port and explore. It was entirely possible that she would live to see a good 10% of the galaxy explored!

"That is, if I did live through it," she spoke out loud as she stared into the great blue marble that was New Tokyo.

"What was that?" Perkins asked, as he surprisingly directed the ship not toward a docking ring, but one of the larger stations orbiting New Tokyo.

"Nothing," Aela said as she waved him off. "Just thinking out loud. Though, why are we headed towards that station and not New Tokyo?" she asked.

"That's because we're foreigners, that is," Perkins replied. "While the most polite bunch of people I know of in the Sirius sector, their government really has a thing against foreigners. Dunno why, " he said, finishing the last response with a shrug.

"That's why we've gotta head to Roppongi station first. That's where nearly all the expats still live, despite them being allowed to live on New Tokyo now. Gotta stay there while they process the necessary procedure for us to see their Shogun. " he said as he made his approach.

That brought up some interesting implications to what sort of people she would be meeting. Could she be meeting a people very much like the Batarians? She rather hoped that wouldn't be the case. One rather paranoid totalitarian government gave enough headaches to the Citadel as is. Another would be… bad.

"This is Hotel four dash zero. Requesting permission to dock." Perkins said calmly and professionally into his comms.

"Roger that. Your request to dock has been granted. Please proceed to Dock One." the dock manager replied, "Please honor us with a visit to the bar. Much of the station wishes to meet you and Miss D'Avo."

"We would be honored to," replied Perkin, and then switched off his comms. "Looks like the expats are eager to meet you. How do you feel about another bar?" Perkins jibed lightly.

Honestly, it shouldn't be bad at all. She just needed to remember to control herself.

* * *

Little Liberty Bar  
Roppongi Station

Aela arrived to a little slice of the Citadel. While certainly no Eternity, this bar would not have looked out of place in the Citadel, with a comparatively calm and relaxed attitude. A brilliant neon sign illuminated the entrance to the bar, and once she was inside, it gave off a more relaxed, 'I'm just here to drink' feel.

In other words, something she really was looking forward to. She did not want a repeat of New Berlin so soon after her visit there.

"I see you've arrived Miss D'Avo." said the bartender as she and Perkins made their way to the bar. "Courtesy of some of the expats here, drink are free for you two. Would you like something to eat as well?"

"I'll have some chips please, and do you have some of those onion rings?" Perkins eagerly inquired.

"We do." the bartender replied.

"Great, we'll take two, and two pints of beer." Perkins responded.

"Okay then." the bartender said, as he typed something into his console. "You two can take that corner booth there. Enjoy your stay here in Roppongi."

"Will do mate." Perkins said as he brought Aela to said corner.

As they both sat down, Aela couldn't help but comment, "This is nice."

"How so?" Perkin said as he raised his eyebrow.

"Well… it's not like New Berlin," Aela said a little hesitantly, and she could feel the slight blush on her face as well.

Perkins gave a light laugh at that. "Don't worry too much about it. While you're likely to see plenty of those in New Berlin, New London and Liberty, here in Kusari, they're pretty big on keeping things… down. Being loud and boisterous and energetic in public isn't doesn't exactly make the oldies. Makes you look uncultured, according to their traditions, at least if I got them right." he said neutrally. "Main reason why this station gets so much traffic in fact, is that the few clubs here, which are jam packed right now, are real popular with the Kusari kids."

A culture that seemed to place emphasis on keeping themselves calm and collected? So much so that the youth have to go outside their homelands to… let go? That was starting to sound a little too much like the Batarians for comfort.

She was about to comment on this when she noticed Perkins go from his calm and relaxed look to what she had dubbed the 'I'm piloting this ship right now' alert look.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Some shifty looking Kusari blokes with some ink on them just walked in." Perkins quietly replied. "I think they might be Hogosha. Stay calm, and move beside me. I've got my service pistol handy right now."

Aela simply nodded at his order, and slowly moved beside him, and readied herself for a fight. As an archaeologist, she had often had to work in the Terminus systems, and had fended off more than one Pirate or animal attack. She may not have a weapon handy, but she could defend herself just as well with her biotics. When he turned she got a good look at them. They were all wearing black leather jackets and pants, giving them a rather shady look. The fact that a few of them had tattoos of some reptile on their faces as well, only helped give the image that these men were trouble.

"Just pretend like you don't notice them, and act casual." Perkins whispered.

Aela just smiled and nodded as the serving lady came and brought her drink and food. Whoever these… Hogosha are, they were likely trouble.

Still, the beer was good, and the… chips and onion rings quite pleasant, especially with the beer they were served with. She and Perkins chatted a bit, gradually finding out more about Kusari. Two major corporations were it's lifeblood, Kishiro Technologies and Samura Heavy Industries. Both of these… keiretsu corporations handle everything, from minerals extraction and farming, to construction and even delivery. Nearly everyone in Kusari worked for them in some manner, and in sheer weight of employees and operations, were the largest corporations in the Sirius sector, though perhaps not the most influential. A Shogun ruled over all of Kusari too, an analogue to a King according to Perkins.

Still, even with the small chat with Perkins, about Kusari, she couldn't help but notice the… Hogosha giving her dark looks. They were muttering a lot, while they nursed their own drinks, and some looked like they were fingering something under their jackets.

Suddenly, one of them stood up and rapidly approached them.

Aela cursed silently, and readied herself to launch a biotic attack if necessary.

"You!" shouted the Hogosha, in a rather thick accent. "It was enough that we had to deal with Liberty and all the other Houses, but now you gaijin," he said as he pointed at Aela, "you'll only bring more trouble to us!"

Aela wasn't really sure how to respond to that. Fact was, chances are the Citadel's arrival will likely disrupt whatever status quo was here in Kusari.

"We don't want no trouble now." said Perkins calmly and cooly. "We just want to finish our drinks here while we wait for clearance to land on New Tokyo."

"Why should we let you dogs" he said the last bit as he spat on the floor, "Set foot on the homeland?"

"Because we will meet your Shogun," Aela replied.

The man's eyes widened, "You dare!" he spat, and quickly grabbed a gun from his jacket and pointed it at her.

"I should shoot you now gaijin! To have you in the august presence of our Shogun… I may be Hogosha, but I am Kusari first and foremost!" he roared.

Aela had silently put up a barrier around her, and she didn't think anyone noticed. She really really hoped that gun wasn't like their ships and used bullets.

"Please si-sirs nnnot here..." begged the bartender.

"Silence!" shouted the other Hogosha at him. "Shoot her now Hiroshi! The woman not only breaks her place, but will only corrupt our nation further. Just end it!"

The Hogosha with the gun, Hiroshi, simply narrowed his eyes, and fired.

Everyone was quite surprised to see her very much alive and well after the gun roared. Aela used that distraction to toss a table at them with her biotics, and quickly grabbed Perkins and ran while the Hogosha were still freeing themselves from the table.

"What the bloody hell was that!?" shouted Perkins as they ran towards the dock.

"Biotics!" she shouted as they turned a corner "Ability to create minor gravitational anomalies basically! Can stop projectiles moving at certain speeds. Really really glad they didn't have energy weapons!"

"Jaysus Christ! Be glad they were punks!" he said as the Hogosha started to catch up and started shooting. "If they had one of the newer guns from Liberty, we'd be dead! As is, they're using them old hand cannons, still use bullets!" he shouted as they turned a corner into a pet shop.

They were surrounded by dozens of fish of all sorts of colours in different tanks. Aela could definitely see them in the future on board the Citadel, some of them were quite interesting shades of colours. As for why this was running through her head as they were looking for refuge, she honestly had no idea.

"What's going on?!" shouted the clerk at the counter as they rushed in.

"Hogosha! Call the bobbies and is there a backdoor?" Perkins asked the clerk a little desperately.

The clerks eyes widened and quickly pressed a button by his console. "They'll be here soon, but I'm sorry, this is a dead end. Now I've got go!" he said as he ran past them. "Good luck!" they could hear faintly as the door closed.

Perkins quickly went towards the counter, the only viable source of cover in the entire shop.

"We've just got to hold out here till the Police come," he said, trying to reassure her. "Do you have any other tricks that could come in handy?"

Aela simply nodded. "I think I have something for them." While he was certainly capable of doing a warp, that would only get rid of one person. She had something special for these thugs.

Soon they could hear the sounds of boots running, and shouting in an another language. Then, Hiroshi shouted again, " Come out gaijin," he said, voice full of venom. "And we'll make your deaths quick!"

"Does that mean that you're afraid of us, sirs?" retorted Perkins.

"We outnumber you five to one now, fool!" roared Hiroshi.

"Ah, it's a fair fight then for you twats," Perkins somehow replied mirthfully, a little grin on his face.

"Die then!" Hiroshi replied as he tossed something through the door.

"Grenade!" shouted Perkin, and Aela quickly used her biotics to toss back out.

Shouts of surprise came from the corridor as the grenade exploded, causing even Aela and Perkin's ears to ring.

After a few moments of ringing in her ears, she could hear streams of what were presumably curses coming from the corridor.

"Your… sorceries won't keep us out forever gaijin!" roared Hiroshi. "For the Homeland and the Shogun brothers! BANZAI!" he shouted as the Hogosha rushed through the door.

Aela saw her opening, and using every ounce of skill, she put a singularity into where the door was, dragging all the Hogosha there as they all flailed and attempted to get a footing as they floated helplessly.

It was easy for Perkins to methodically kill each of them with a few clean shot to their chests.

Panting as he holstered his pistol, Perkins could only idly comment "That was easier than I thought."

Honestly, Aela wasn't sure whether she should thank him for getting rid of the thugs, or slap him for his comment, as she faintly heard the faint sounds of sirens in the distance.

* * *

Roppongi Station, Police station 3  
New Tokyo System

It was comforting for Aela to know that Humans had a Police force, and that they took shootouts very seriously.

What wasn't comforting was the fact that she and Perkins were now detained ' for her own safety' while the Kusari Police force prepared to take their statements as to what happened.

It looked like they really took the for her own security bit seriously too, though not without comforts. This particular waiting area had a comfortable bed, a servant to bring her meals, and an excellent vid screen with access to a wide variety of shows. It even had it's own separate bathroom. In fact, if it weren't for the eight guards armed with some menacing looking rifles outside her door, she would've been convinced that she was in a luxurious hotel.

Fact of the matter though was that as the first alien visitor to Sirius space, and therefore de-facto emissary of the Citadel, Aela knew being attacked on their territory severely embarrassed the Kusari. She may not be an actual diplomat, but it didn't take much for one to put those pieces together.

Culturally though… if these Hogosha felt that she was… whatever a gaijin was, then how would the average citizen react to others? It was fortunate that Asari looked nominally like Humans, but what of the Turians and Salarians? Or even the more exotic aliens like the Hanar and Elcor? Would they react even more violently to these people? She didn't know, and she dearly hoped that they would take it a lot better. Her main hope came in the form of the youth of Kusari. From what she heard, the young men and women of Kusari loved foreign products and culture. Maybe they would be more amicable to her people?

Still, right now all she was waiting for was her meal. She had asked for something definitively Kusari, but light. She did not want to feel full after what she presumed would be a meal with their Shogun, if her meeting with King Alexander was anything to go by.

At the knock on the door, Aela figured that was her own food, and loudly said "Please do come in."

In entered her servant. Unlike the Bretonnians and Rhinelanders she met, she noticed the Kusari all tended to be of a more… yellowish complexion than the pale or pink ones of the Bretonnians and Rhinelanders. They also tended to have slanted eyes and dark hair and eye colours. Perhaps some sort of evolution with dealing with their original climates on the homeworld?

"Greetings honored D'Avo-san," said the servant, a young woman dressed in elaborate robes. "I bring you your meal as requested. This does not remove the stain of dishonor those thugs brought unto Kusari, but I hope that it will at least begin the healing process."

"It is no problem," Aela replied. "I understand that they were some known criminals, and since no harm was done, it is easily forgiven."

"You may have forgiven us, D'Avo-san, but their actions have stained the honor of all Kusari. And we never forget these things." she said gravely.

Clearly she would make no progress on getting her to beg forgiveness, so she instead turned to the topic of food. Taking a good look at the tray placed on the table in front of her, Aela noted that it was a very clean, simple looking array of foods. Somehow though, each of the dishes that were arrayed before her seemed to have a feeling of being crafted, carefully and skillfully made before being put to use. Brightly coloured pieces of meat on top of what looked like lumps of a grain of some sort, held together by some green thing, all laid down under on one porcelain plate. There were also some pieces of meat artistically laid another plate, with no grains under it this time. A small porcelain saucer was filled with some sort of black liquid, and beside it was a small lump of some sort of green paste. Yet here she saw no familiar utensils. She saw only two elegant looking sticks of what looked like ivory.

"What is this?" she asked, careful to sound curious and not offended.

"Sushi D'Avo-san." the servant replied, clearly still trying her best to get her somehow remove the dishonor" Fresh fish, gathered from the waters of New Tokyo, from the Shogun's own fisheries. Together with the fine seaweed and the best rice Samura has to offer the Sirius sector, that is sushi. Sashimi as well, for a purer, fresher taste of the sea. To eat it, take a piece with the chopsticks," and here she pointed at the ivory sticks, "and dip it lightly, meat side down into the soy sauce. Apply some Wasabi, the green paste to it, then eat. The same applies to the sashimi."

Aela stared at the two sticks. She… wasn't quite sure how those to eat with those two sticks. Was she supposed to spear the Sushi? But the sticks were blunt…

"Forgive me D'Avo-san," the servant said, her voice filled with sadness of sorts. " I have forgotten that you would not know how to make use of the chopsticks. Please, allow me to demonstrate"

She then deftly grabbed the pair of sticks, and slowly and carefully in one hand, demonstrated the motions to use said sticks. Ingenious really, as the sticks essentially acted as a pair of tweezers.

Having seen the motions, Aela thanked the servant and then tried copying them. After a few, initial clumsy tries, she managed to get one piece of sushi into her chopstick. Proudly, she showed the servant, who simply smiled. She then thanked her, after which the servant simply continued to smile, bowed deeply, then left the room.

Now alone in the room once more, she took her first 'conquest' with chopsticks, and carefully followed the instructions of the servant, lightly adding some wasabi onto the piece, then dipping it into the sauce. Careful to keep it in the grip of her chopsticks, she slowly brought the piece into her mouth, determined to get this right. She was surprised to find this particular piece delicious, a slightly slick, but not unpleasant feeling as the slight saltiness hit her palette. A strong wave of heat soon hit her, but it wasn't altogether unpleasant. It somehow brought together all the flavours and sensations she was feeling much better.

She was about to get another piece when she noticed something sticking out underneath the plate. It looked like a little corner of paper. She carefully lifted up the plate to find a small envelope. Flipping it over, and finding no markings, she carefully opened it to find a letter.

_Honored Aela D'Avo_

_Know that the Hogosha have shamed all of Kusari, both the Shogun and his enemies._  
_We welcome you as an honored guest into Kusari, and we hope that your own people can help us. Know that Kyoto and Ainu is watching and waiting._

She honestly wasn't sure what to make of the letter. Probably a discrete message from one of the factions within Kusari she guessed, though it looked like it was reflecting the feeling of all of Kusari. Whoever these… Kyoto and Ainu were, they are likely to be very mad at the Hogosha now.

"Well good riddance to trash," she thought out loud as she began to start finishing her meal. The galaxy could always do with less criminals. These Kyoto and Ainu, obviously citizens who wish to remain anonymous, are likely going to implement their own brand of justice.

Normally, she would be against that, but for all the trouble the Hogosha put her through, she was willing let this happen. Good to know that some Kusari had a very clear idea on what's right and wrong.


	15. Chapter 15

In orbit of New Tokyo  
New Tokyo system

After the short and surprisingly gentle debriefing by the Kusari police, Aela had quickly found herself being escorted into a particularly luxurious shuttle; sleek, yet clearly having enough to say 'important'. Rather much like mother's really. She was never much for subtlety, though that tended to get her in… trouble.

It was the interior of the shuttle, though, that really caught her eye. Beautifully lacquered wood paneling covered the door sides, which were themselves gilded with a beautiful green tone that reminded her of emeralds. The lush black leather seats simply seemed to take her in, as she sat down to try them out. "The Kusari really pulled out all the stops when they feel they want to apologize," she said aloud.

"Indeed we do Miss D'Avo," said a voice behind her, which caused her to jump out of the chair in surprise.

She quickly turned around to see a Kusari man, wearing a scarlet black silk robe of sorts. He had his hair tied up into a little know on his back, but other than that, he seemed to look like a pretty average Kusari guy to her. Yellowish pale skin, slightly slanted eyes, and black hair. She wasn't nearly familiar enough with humans to tell them apart beyond the most obvious features yet.

The man bowed deeply, bringing his head below her own chest, while keeping his palms touching each other. "Apologies once again D'Avo-san," he said, his voice deep and comforting. "This time for startling you. I am Ozu Takera, and I shall be your guide here in New Tokyo, as we approach New Edo to meet our most honorable Shogun."

"Guide?" she asked loudly. "What about Perkins? I thought he was supposed to guide me?"

"I'm afraid that in light of what happened aboard Roppongi, our most Honorable Shogun has decided that you must be guided by Kusari hands to prevent any more… incidents." he said, clearly trying to calm her. "It was felt that his presence may have inadvertently provoked the attack."

"How?

"Many of the Hogosha see themselves as… protectors of Kusari. Their name literally translates to guardian. They see the Shogun as one who has the divine guidance of the Sun God Amaterasu, and as such, are willing to protect him at all costs. The fact that you are visiting him, possibly influencing him to something… un-Kusari, and that you were being guided by not one of our own, but a Bretonian, only led to further… aggravate the normally placid Hogosha."

"Placid? Those thugs are normally placid?"

"Why yes. They are very often legitimate businessmen, helping Kusari interests everywhere. Unfortunately, the young ones with all the wisdom of youth. They think they know everything. Thus the attack. The elder members however, I'm sure, know the true wisdom in first watching then reacting."

That… did not comfort her. At all.

The Kusari were exhibiting more and more signs of being like the Batarians, insular policies, a desire to control as much as possible, to keep things as 'Kusari' as possible while retaining control.

Hopefully, meeting the Shogun would help clarify things, get a better feel for how the situation really is, though honestly. 'Legitimate businessmen.' she mentally scoffed at that notion. Sure, just like the Batarians are practicing their 'Cultural heritage' with slavery.

"D'Avo-san" said Ozu, breaking her out of her line of thought. "We are now approaching Edo palace. If you would look to your left outside the window, I'm sure you would be most interested in the view."

After seeing the Westminster palace and the Reichstag, Aela decided to take a look. It would be a good sense of how different the Kusari would be compared to the Rhinelanders and Bretonnians. The architecture would help out there.

So when she turned around and looked out the window, as the clouds gradually gave way, her jaw dropped

Her vision was dominated by a single enormous, island that thrust out of the turquoise blue sea into a large hill, atop which sat what must have been Edo Palace. It seemed as if it had come out of ancient history itself, forgoing much of what she expected, the Palace itself seemed to have been crafted with stone and wood it's stark white walls and blue roofs contrasting heavily with the emerald greenery of the island. Surrounding the largest and tallest structure, likely the Keep and Shogun's tower, a series of slanted walls that seemed to only accentuate the many gardens that she could make out within the complex. Curiously enough there seemed to also be a few areas where there were naught but stone and sand, another form of gardening perhaps. Here, she saw no trace of the Roman or Greek architecture, instead seeing something completely different from what she has come to expect. The buildings themselves seemed to build on top of the other, resembling a great cake of sorts. The roofs were slanted yes, but they always seemed to end with some sort of tip, comepletely unlike what examples of Greek and Roman architecture she saw in the Bretonnian museum. She couldn't help but feel a sense of harmony and peace as they slowly approached the landing pad, perhaps the most modern thing she had clearly seen on the island itself, as if the Palace had been sculpted not only to protect, but to calm the mind a spirit, much like a temple. To create a place of both safety, and projected power.

When the Kusari meant traditional, they really meant it, Aela thought as the shuttle doors opened.

"Please follow me, and listen to any instructions I give you." said Ozu. "Though you are a most honorable guest of the Shogun, protocol must be followed."

"I see." Aela said, remembering to keep her tone neutral. Frankly, the Kusari government was starting to sound more and more fishy by the minute. Still though she carefully followed Ozu through the winding paths of the palace complex deeper towards what she assumed was the Keep.

When they arrived at the Keep, or the Tenchu as Ozu had called it, Aela really got a feel of just how this entire complex was built.

She noted very carefully, that the closer they approached the Tenchu, the higher it got. A sensible approach, but she also noticed something else. Whereas she would expect the Bretonians or Rhinelanders to just keep the wall flowing in a straight line till they hit a designated point, these Kusari walls seemed to just… flow with the landscape, not against it.

Another sign of the difference in philosophy between the Houses, though she sorely wished it would apply to the people here, even as they entered.

Instead of something incredibly ornate and luxurious, she was treated to a surprisingly spartan interior. Paper thin walls surrounded her, and a mat of sorts covered the floor.

"Please remove your shoes D'Avo-san," Ozu said carefully. "It is customary to do so to keep the sanctity and cleanliness of the Palace."

"Understood." she said. It was a fair enough request, so she promptly removed her shoes and continued to follow Ozu deeper and higher into the Tenchu.

Overall, the theme of simplicity seemed to dominate the lace, as room after room, she was treated to sight of the same walls and floors. Occasionally she'd see a tapestry showing stylized creatures, plants and people, and simple but expensive looking furniture, but nothing resembling the splendor she saw at Westminster.

Finally, they came to a simple room, this time with two tapestries hanging on both her left and right, showing a golden flower of sorts on a scarlet background.

"This is the final room before we meet the Shogun," Ozu explained. "We must now wait for an attendant to signal that we may now enter. Do you have any questions before we enter?"

Though she had many, really there was only one question that really stuck in her head.

"Why are you so different?" she asked, her voice just brimming with curiosity, because really these Humans were an Anthropologist's dream. "The Bretonnians and Rhinelanders I met were culturally different yes, but nothing on the scale that I've seen here. From what I've seen so far… it's simply breathtaking and nearly unbelievable to think you are of the same species."

Ozu chuckled lightly at the end, likely at her last remark. "I am no anthropologist D'Avo-san, but I'll try and answer what I can. I think it is mainly that, on the Homeworld, Earth, we were quite literally on opposite sides of the planet. We did not meet for many millennia, and even then, we kept our culture and traditions strong. We were hardly influenced by them and their cultures, taking in only what we saw to be good and beneficial, much like what we do here now in our new worlds of Kusari."

That didn't quite answer her question, but she let it slide as a great ringing sound, like a cymbal was hit was made.

"That was our signal D'Avo-san." Ozu said. "Follow me, and repeat whatever motions I make. Do not make eye contact with the Shogun unless he allows you too."

Aela simply nodded in understanding and followed Ozu to meet the Shogun.

* * *

The Dragon Room, Edo Palace  
New Tokyo system

Carefully following Ozu's lead, Aela slowly walked forward into the throne room of the Shogun of Kusari. While the room shared many characteristics of the previous rooms, such as simple paper-thin walls, a mat of sorts on the floor, and relatively simple looking furniture, she could immediately see the difference at the far end of the of room.

Seated on an elevated dais was the Shogun, sitting cross-legged, and dressed in an elaborate crimson robe. Behind him, she could make out an enormous stylized tapestry of some sort of four legged predator, likely a creature of great symbolism here, On his side were two attendants, or advisors, Aela wasn't sure which, in yellow robes, standing and waiting for… something.

"Welcome honored D'Avo-san," said the Shogun. "Everyone, leave us. Except you Ozu. I would like to dispense with much of our… protocol for this, especially in light of what happened at Roppongi."

"Hai." the attendants said as they bowed out and left the room.

"Now cousin," said the Shogun as he stood up and walked toward Aela. "I think it important that she understand our honor."

'D'Avo-san," said Ozu, his voice calm " You must understand, that what the Hogosha did to you while on Roppongi, under our care as our guests… That has not only discredited us, but has thoroughly stained our honor. We have lost face, and all Kusari know it."

"Face?" Aela asked.

"It is… a difficult concept to explain, even to our fellow Humans." Ozu said. "The closest approximation would be that of… shame. We have lost our respectability, our dignity. This is very important in our culture, you see."

"How? I mean, humiliation is nothing new. I know of people who have humiliated themselves and have simply learned to live with it." Aela responded curiously.

"Like I said, it is more complicated than that." Ozu said. "Understand that it goes deeper than the mere loss of respectability and to illustrate, well…"

"Let her see the poems, Ozu." The Shogun said.

"Hai." Ozu said as he moved towards one table which held a few pieces of paper. He gently took one and slowly walked back to her with it.

The paper had writing on it, but it was completely incomprehensible to her. It was so totally unlike the letters she had seen in Rhineland and Bretonnia that she simply couldn't understand them. Oh it was quite beautiful and the characters seemed to flow gently, and she suspected that closer inspection would show each character to be unique and stylistic, representing a concept or item, but she would need weeks to come up with a basic translation suite.

"I'm so sorry, but I cannot read this." she said apologetically.

"We know. But know now you hold the death poem of the leader of that group of Hogosha who attempted to kill you."

"Death Poem?"

"An… epitaph of sorts." Ozu explained. "The man has committed seppuku, ritual suicide, upon realizing what his men had done."

Aela's eye widened in shock in realization of how seriously these people took their… honor. The man killed himself over the shame he had brought upon the nation.

"A translation for you D'Avo-san."

As the sound of drum calls for my life,  
I turn my head where sun is about to set.  
There is no inn on the way to underworld.  
At whose house shall I sleep tonight?

"He knew that by the shame he had caused, he would not be welcome as he goes down to the realm of the dead. He even denied himself a second as he committed his suicide."

"A second?"

"A man to cut off his head. He instead opted to simply take his Wakizashi, a short sword of sorts, and gut himself with it."

Aela could only open her mouth in horror upon hearing that. Ritual suicide? A likely very painful and drawn out death, all over their concept of shame? Goddess, this was something that was far too complicated for her to deal with in a day.

"Yes you understand now. " The Shogun said. "Here in Kusari we take our Honor seriously. Not all foreigners really grasp this. I feel that in this upcoming new world, your people must understand this. That the Kusari people need to be treated with the proper respect. We do not take to… change well, I think. The Hogosha you encountered are proof of this I think, and there are certainly others who would act as violently."

Goddess, any dealings with the Kusari would only lead to trouble. If anyone was to make inroads here, working with the local companies would be essential.

"Now that we have… educated you on one of the more important aspects of our culture. Please,do tell us about your own people, the Asari."


	16. Chapter 16

The Old Sailor Pub, Roppongi Station  
New Tokyo System

After her talks with the Shogun, Aela honestly didn't want to deal with the incredibly complicated situation that was here in Kusari any longer. She just wanted to get to Perkins and go on to Liberty, her last stop before arriving at Curacao to meet the Citadel representatives.

Which found her here, back on Roppongi, in an admittedly different bar, or 'pub' as the bartender insisted. The Shogun provided an escort back to Roppongi to meet her esteemed guide, Perkins, who had apparently been given carte blanche on the station, by the Shogun as a way of apology. In the absence of her, had been enjoying eating and drinking where he pleased, though not to excess.

"Nice to see you again Aela," he said merrily as he raised a glass in her direction. "You know, the expat community here in Roppongi can tell you alll sorts of stories where they get picked on too. Just nothing this violent, and very rarely with the kids, who just love this station."

"Really?" she said with genuine curiosity. So the more conservative elements were the ones who attacked them?

"Yes. They eat up just about anything foreign." he said. "SynthPaste, shows, books, all sorts of things really."

"Huh." she replied. "Well I think we stayed here in Kusari long enough. I think it's time we left for Liberty."

"Too right." he said as he stood up and gave the bartender a chit. "This should cover what I owe you and more, Tim."

"Thanks Perkins." Tim replied.

"Let's go then." Perkins said as they both walked towards the docking bay.

"Aren't you a little too… drunk to pilot the ship?" Aela said tentatively. She knew that drinking and flying did not mix. Especially with something that weighed several tons and moved at speeds she'd rather not think about.

"I know," he said a little smugly, with that smirk on his face. "Which is why I'm letting you take control."

Aela stopped right there in the middle of the corridor. "What."

"It mostly pilots itself outside combat, really," he said a little too smugly for comfort. "I'll point out what you need to press. Besides, you won't be the first pilot I've taught."

While that statement wasn't exactly what she'd call encouraging, she'd rather try and pilot the ship than let a drunk pilot do so.

At least, that was what she really hoped, as they arrived at the docking bay.

* * *

Planet Junyo  
Shikoku system

_If there was one thing Junyo never lacked for, it was water_, thought Interspace Commerce Rep Henry Watts. The whole damn planet was literally an ocean. In fact, up until 150 years ago, no one thought this ball of water was worth anything, till Kusari's traditional fisheries started to collapse. Then Samura thought this planet ideal to convert into one giant fishery.

These days, Junyo was dotted with platforms, where many fishermen worked in. Many would love to live in them really, but the costs of living on them, due to what Samura deemed 'maintenance', were incredibly excessive and only the more well-off fishermen could really live and work there.

Hence why he was here to meet up with his Samura counterpart on one of the older rigs on Junyo. Despite modern materials, man could only do so much to fight the inevitable decay of their works. The salty sea's effects could be seen in the rust hanging off the platform' edges, likely due to the fact that no one lived on this particular platform, and those that did work on it weren't here right now. It was reasonably controlled by Samura and highly unlikely to be heard by anyone who didn't work for either of the two companies.

"Are you Mr. Watts?" said a voice coming from the platform's tower. He turned around to see what he had come to associate as typical Kusari heading toward him. He had that polite, yet somehow condescending look on him, as if you don't know any better. Kinda like his 5th grade teacher now that he thought about it.

"Yeah. And you must be Mr. Tanigawa, representing Mr. Samura himself."

"Hai. And you represent IC's interests?" he said,.

Henry simply smiled at that. "Yeahp. Let's get to business then. We know that Samura would like more… say in what goes on in Kusari. What we want is better deals on fuel. You talk to the GMG for us, and we'll handle SynthPaste."

Tanigawa narrowed his eyes at that, which somehow, with him in his charcoal grey business suit, made him look even more condescending. "While this is certainly something that we can arrange, we were hoping for something more along the lines of… arrangements regarding our new neighbors."

"Ah… The Blue Stripper Chicks from space." Watts said, enjoying the man's frown at his nickname for the Asari. That video from Rhineland had already made a sensation throughout the Neural Net. "What do you propose then?"

"Merely that you don't give them any sort of favourable rates for any of their companies that wish to… approach the markets here."

"Hmm..." he said, taking this moment to think about what to ask for. Interspace Commerce wasn't planning on giving them good rates in the first place anyway. "The aliens will have nice and shiny new tech for us if they went to us for financing. With the amount of potential lost profits… We'd want a piece of your Battleship and Space Station projects for the next century. You go to us for financing and we get 20% of all profits from those projects."

"10% Mr. Watts, is a much more reasonable percentage."

"I can give you 10%. But with that we'll want you to go to us for financing on any new mining and refining projects you'll handle for the next century as well. Who knows what we'll find out there with the aliens involved?"

"A good enough bargain Mr. Watts." he said as he extended his hand. "It was a pleasure doing business with you."

"And you as well." said Henry as he shook the man's hand.

God he really needed to get out of here. Too much sea and not enough booze for his liking. That and he was running low on his preferred SynthPaste flavours.

* * *

In Orbit of New Tokyo  
New Tokyo System.

Really, once Perkins had pointed out the very basics of taking off (which essentially was push green button for the anti-grav landing gear, turn ship slowly, ease the throttle then don't hit the walls) flying the ship was as simple as moving the joystick around to direct the ship's direction. If she wanted to keep a steady course, it was simple enough to just let go of the stick and let the ship fly on. It was even possible for it's own auto-pilot to go and perform basic docking and landing maneuvers, though all Pilots knew how to do it manually, just in case.

Really, Aela could easily see herself flying her own ship in the future, similar to this. Her Helmet HUD told her everything relevant: shields, hull and energy levels, any sort of damage and even important waypoints that Perkins had set up as a 'trial run' ... essentially she was flying until they hit the Shikoku jump gate, which wasn't too far away. Just one Trade Lane away really.

"Right, you're doing real good so far," Perkins said encouragingly. In fact… he wasn't slurring his words. He even still had that calm pilot look on him.

"You're not drunk at all, are you?" Aela asked a little accusingly.

"I am, for your information, legally too inebriated to fly," he said defensively. "I mean, it's not like you'd give up the opportunity to fly this beauty, eh?"

Aela had to give him that. There was a little part of her, the Maiden really, that liked a little excitement in her life. Flying this ship was incredibly exciting. New technology from a completely different tech base, highly intuitive controls, and a little part of her, the rebel from her Maiden days, was squeeing at the amount of firepower she had at her disposal right now.

"I guess you're right," she said as she very gently directed the ship toward the Trade Lane to the Shikoku Jump Gate. "It is kind of fun flying this ship."

Perkins merely smiled at that. "I can make you a pilot yet," he said confidently. "Now, go initiate docking procedures with the Trade Lane. Press that green button over there to signal the Trade Lane, and let the ship do the rest."

Really, with how easy it was to learn how to fly one of these, she could begin to see why there were so many Humans out in space. These ships just seemed so foolproof.

* * *

Tau 30 System

With the upcoming talks with the Human Houses coming up soon, the Citadel Council felt it wise that the Humans know exactly what they were dealing with. Hence why the current representative, one Matriarch Benezia, was going to be arriving in Curacao in style, aboard the latest Dreadnought in Citadel space, the Salarian Union's _Jaelor_, attended by an Asari Dreadnought, _Asha_, and of course the proper attendant fleets too. Part of the Turian 7th would be joining them, along with the _Asha's_ and _Jaelor_'s escorts.

Not to mention her entourage of both bodyguards and experts. Along with her own personal band of Commandoes, the Council felt it wise that one particular Specter join her group. One Jondum Bau was there as her escort and of course a few dozen Turian Legionnaires who were to escort her and provide a more… balanced and unified outlook when she goes to talk to the Humans.

Which was also why she was here on the Bridge of the _Jaelor_, two weeks away from the nearest Mass Relay, as they entered the Tau 30 system. It wouldn't do for the Humans to panic and think they were under attack. According to the reports they had yet to meet a Salarian, and were unfortunately likely to react violently given the large fleet that was arriving.

Sure enough, the Communications officer reported an incoming hail from the local fleet: a single Dreadnought, accompanied by a few cruisers and frigates.

"This is Captain James Dunbar of the HMS Stirling, of the Bretonian Armed Forces. Be aware that you are treading on sovereign Bretonian territory. Identify yourselves or prepare to be destroyed." the hail said, the Human's voice surprisingly calm and aloof, despite being clearly outnumbered.

Benezia took this as her cue to reply. "This is Matriarch Benezia, here to represent the Citadel Council in the upcoming talks on Curacao," she replied, remembering to keep her voice as neutral and humble as possible. It wouldn't do to appear too high and mighty to the Humans.

"Ah. We've been expecting you then." the Human, Captain Dunbar said. "Though we honestly didn't think you'd bring along this much baggage, ma'am."

"Baggage?"

"It's the only possible explanation for all the attending ships ma'am," he said in a straight voice.

Somehow, Benezia had a feeling that they could eventually get along with these people. Eventually.

"I'm afraid not Captain. This is my escort fleet." she replied.

"Rather smashing if I do say so," replied a little merrily. "I'm sure that you've had to pass through some rather dangerous part of space and all that, but from here on, you'll be under our protection. I'm sure you can leave a few tonnes of your baggage behind."

Benezia could concede that to him. She rather thought they got the message across that they had numbers. This was after all only an escort fleet. Imagine a real battle fleet. "We'll proceed with only a few ships from the other races to Curacao, Captain. This was a fleet to merely ensure my safety. You may not know it but you lie in a rather… active part of space."

"Thank you," Captain Dunbar replied, "Right then, you'd want access all the way to Curacao then. I'm sending you a data packet now. It should contain the Jump Codes for the Jump Gates linking you all the way to the Curacao system, though I will be escorting you there myself, to make sure you don't take any wrong turns and all that."

"Receiving data packet," said one of the deck officers. "Packet received and redistributing throughout the fleet."

"We've specially programmed the Gates on the route to take these codes. Just upload, wait for the wormhole to generate, then enter. Slowly." Captain Dunbar said.

"Thank you," Benezia replied. "I'd like to request that we go in first. It would be… an experience I think."

"Be my guest. The Norfolk will meet you on the other side. Together, our two ships will escort you to Curacao."

Willing to trust, but properly cautious. Signs of wisdom perhaps?

"Thank you again," Benezia replied. "Captain, if you would kindly direct us towards the Jump Gate?"

"Of course, Matriarch," Captain Geron of the Jaelor said. "Flank speed towards the Gate. I want us to stop 5 ks before the arms. Then we upload the codes. Lieutenant Bau, I want the full sensor array online and on full power recording whatever we experience as we go through that wormhole."

Lieutenant Bau simply nodded and went to his work.

Meanwhile, Benezia tried to maintain a calm and aloof exterior, as was proper for a Matriarch. On the inside however, she was giddy with excitement. She just knew that Aethiya and Liara would absolutely love to see what she was seeing now. Maybe when she returned home, she could get them to come with her to tour the Human Sirius Sector.

"Uploading codes. Gate is opening," said one of the bridge officers.

"Detecting anomaly at the center of the gate." reported another.

"I think Captain, that would be our way to the next system," Benezia said.

"Indeed. Helm, ahead at quarter speed."

"Aye sir. Quarter speed." reported one of the deck officers.

Benezia took this moment to simply observe the event, as ever so slowly, the ship moved towards the wormhole. Suddenly, as the ship approached the center of the gate, she felt a great pulling sensation, and then before her was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

"Goddess. It's full of stars." she said, awestruck.

* * *

Keiun Cloud, Near the Kepler Jump Gate  
Shikoku System

"Oh God." Perkins said as they exited the Trade Lane.

Aela was quite worried too. There were five fearsome looking heavy fighters directly between them and the Jump Gate. While Perkins was a good pilot, she wasn't sure of his ability to take on those five if those ships attacked.

"Blood Dragons." he said in a slightly fearful tone. Which was in itself a bad sign. If even the ever stoic Perkins was terrified of these Blood Dragons, that couldn't be good. "Keep quiet. I'll talk to them, if we're lucky they'll only want our food and water and let us go."

Perkins then calmed himself, clearly trying to make a good impression, "Good day sirs!" he said merrily. "We surrender. We haven't got much in food or water aboard but if you really want, I'll go eject it right now. Just let us go. Please." he said.

A few moments of silence hung about, making both Perkins and Aela more nervous. Were they offended? Did they take the surrender well?

"We aren't here for your cargo, Mr. Perkins and Miss D'Avo. We are only here to say goodbye."

"Well, it was nice knowing you," Perkins said as he turned to Aela. "Because now, we die."

"What." was all Aela could reply. "Can't we fight back?"

"I can try, but I don't think I'll make it far." Perkins said seriously. "They're the best damn pilots in the Sirius Sector. Could take a freighter and make it fly as nimbly as a light fighter. I mean these guys are the sort to cripple a Battleship with nothing more than a mere squadron of fighters."

"We're not going to kill you if that's what you are thinking." said the comms suddenly.

"What?" was all the both of them could say.

"We've made sure to… clear the path of undesirables . From here on out though, you are on your on as you make your way to Liberty. No problems for a pilot of your caliber, Mr. Perkins."

Which really just caused him to mumble and stutter. Praise from a Blood Dragon? About his piloting? He must've been dreaming.

"Good luck you two." And like that, the squadron flew deep into the cloud, and out of their sensor range.

"Come on Perkins," Aela said, trying to get him to snap out of the daze he was in. "Let's go."

"He complimented me. A Blood Dragon complimented me," he mumbled, a faint smile on his face.

No sense in shaking him out of it then. Might as well take control till they hit the other side. Maybe by then, he'll have snapped out of it, at least enough to pilot and tell some stories about these Blood Dragons. As she took control of the ship, she noticed on the sensors that there was indeed a little bit of debris gently drifting further into the nebula.


	17. Chapter 17

Outside the Colorado Jump Gate  
New York System

After all this time, and hearing the many… things the other Houses had to say about Liberty, she was finally here, in the beating heart of Liberty. It's capital system, New York.

"It's strangely… underwhelming." she said. True, she could make out a few scrap fields, likely due to centuries of industrialization, but so hadn't managed to impress her.

"That's because we're just at the border between Colorado and New York. The only interesting thing you're likely to see here is, well… some traffic. The real sight is when we get to Manhattan. Though we are passing Baltimore…" Perkins said as he nudged the ship into the Trade Lane.

"What's at Baltimore?" she asked.

"You'll see in a few moments," he said, a little smirk on his face.

Soon enough they exited the Trade Lane and a single massive facility lay before her. It didn't take long for her to recognize the station as a shipyard, but one on a scale she had rarely seen.

Inside one of the ribcage-like cavities of the facility was a massive ship under construction. From the sheer size of it, Aela guessed that it was probably going to be a brand new Dreadnought. The hundreds of workers on that skeletal frame were positively tiny compared it.

"That there is going to be Liberty's latest Battleship," Perkins said. "From what they have disclosed to the public, that thing is supposed to be able to take direct hits from a Liberty cruiser!"

"While it looks impressive, I don't see what's so special about a ship of greater tonnage being able to outlast a cruiser," Aela said a little skeptically.

"The thing is that Liberty cruisers are all gun. In Bretonnia, we call them "Flying Cannon". Those things pack a lot of firepower in a surprisingly fast frame. They can definitely destroy any other Battleship I know of in seconds."

That… certainly brought things into perspective. For a ship to survive that kind of power… just what was it made of?

"That is one of the reasons why Liberty continues to be the most influential House in Sirius, because they have the best guns." Perkins said, as they entered the Trade Lane to Planet Manhattan.

Aela shuddered at the thought. These Humans had weapons technology that utterly dwarfed Citadel counterparts. If one of those Cruisers came up against any Citadel Ship, even the Destiny Ascension, she was very sure that the Liberty cruiser would win. A directed energy weapon of that scale would be terrifying to see in action.

She was however shaken out of her train of thought when they exited the Trade Lane. Before her lay a blue and green little orb. A couple of massive space stations orbited it, and she could also make out quite a few docking rings and minor orbital habitats around the planet as well. Hundreds of ships, from the great insect-like transports to small, almost tiny ships, flowed into the Docking rings and orbiting stations. For both it's size and age, Aela figured that Manhattan was one of the busier planets she's ever encountered

"Welcome to Manhattan," Perkins said.

As Aela and Perkins started to descend into the planet proper, Aela couldn't help but start to draw parallels to Illium, the… darker side of Asari space. Both were highly urbanized planets and were Trade Hubs as well. She'd need to take a closer look at Manhattan to really see if the comparison held, but something told her that she wouldn't find many differences.

Soon enough, they touched down to a rather deserted landing pad. Save for a few other parked ships, hardly anyone was around.

"I thought you'd rather like some… anonymity for a while," Perkins said, his usual smirk still on his face. "At least before we go on to meet the President tomorrow. Meanwhile… are you up for visiting a bar?"

"As long as it's not as active as the one on New Berlin, sure." Aela said.

Perkins just laughed at that. "Follow me then. Friend of mine who worked for Bowex told me of this nice quiet bar nearby," he said as he walked toward one of the many skyscrapers that seemed to dot Manhattan.

Soon enough, Aela found herself in a relatively empty bar. It was dimly lit, and she could hear smooth, relaxing music being played from a speaker somewhere. Overall, it was a bar that she could definitely like.

Following Perkins' lead, Aela found herself meeting the bartender, a portly man with a rather thick moustache. "What'll you have my friends? And please, drinks are on the house for the first Alien here."

"Whatever you recommend friend." Perkins said, a smile on his face.

"A round of Liberty Ales then." the bartender replied. "Say, I figure that I'm going to be getting quite a few more customers like you," he said to Aela. "I figure just calling them Aliens would be impolite ma'am, so… may I learn both your name and er…" he stumbled a bit

"Aela," she replied, " And I'm an Asari."

"Asari. Right, noted... Always good to be respectful to customers ma'am," he said as he laid down their drinks in small glasses.

Perkins merely took one look at the glass and downed the drink in one gulp. Aela followed his motions and was immediately rewarded with an incredible burning sensation. She ended up coughing out while both the bartender and Perkins chuckled at her predicament.

"What was that?" she asked, having finally stopped coughing.

"Liberty Ale," the Bartender said. " It's a real spacer's drink. Take the residue of your ship's fuel tank, process it, make sure to get rid of all those nastier byproducts, then add your alcohol of choice for some grade-A Liberty Ale, the genuine Liberty spacer experience. " he chuckled.

"I'm sure the Krogan would love it," _maybe even add it to the current ingredient list for Ryncol._Goddess, how did that thing not trigger any of her omni-tools toxicity sensors?

"Who?" both Perkins and the bartender inquired.

"Think big bipedal lizards with a tendency to get angry with more brawn than brains." she said.

"What like a Rogue then?" laughed the bartender.

"Who?" Aela asked.

"Liberty Rogues," the bartender explained. "Punks who hide out in the Badlands. Decent enough pilots to fly the Badlands, but more often than not, quite stupid. Hell of a problem we have here in Liberty too. They keep hitting shipping and smuggle in Cardamine too."

"So Liberty has it's fair share of crime problems then?" she asked.

"You bet." the bartender replied. " You know about the Rogues, there are the Xenos, bunch of ex-factory workers who blame everyone for taking their jobs. Then there are the Outcasts and their drug smuggling. Just because Liberty's got the best fleet, doesn't mean it's got no crime problems. I hear LPI has its hands full up in Planet Denver, and rumor has it that a new group of pirates is starting to hit shipping out near the California system."

So Liberty wasn't infallible then. And it looks like quite a few people fell through the cracks of Liberty society too. This system was starting to look more and more like Ilium.

"Well, I'm sure that in time, the criminals will be brought to justice." Aela replied neutrally.

"We best be going now," Perkins interrupted. "Got to go to our hotel. Get all our beauty sleep for tomorrow's meeting."

"Alright," Aela replied. "Thanks for the drinks." she said to the bartender.

"No problem" he said smiling. "To your good fortune!" he said as he downed a glass of that Liberty Ale.

* * *

Outside the Liberty, Manhattan  
New York system

When Aela was told that they would be heading toward the place the very first Humans landed in the Sirius sector, she was expecting, at most, a statue of sorts and a small museum of sorts showing early colonial life and the like. She didn't expect to find herself in the middle of the city, staring at a skyscraper, quite different from the others. The building itself was unusually wide, and unlike the other buildings seemed to curve more as well, in contrast to the thin and angular buildings she's seen so far. Asides from the differences however, the most distinguishing feature of the building was that it was proudly hanging the flag of Liberty on its front.

"This is what they use to commemorate the first Humans in the Sirius sector?" she asked, a little incredulously.

"Well, it is the original Liberty sleeper ship," Perkin replied, his smirk practically audible to Aela. "It's also (incidentally) where the President of Liberty resides and where all the important government offices are," he continued, as they both walked toward the building.

"That was what your ancestors came in on?" she exclaimed. The thing was massive, easily a kilometer tall at the very least. The fact that ship was still structurally sound after who knows how long in space meant that the Humans certainly knew a thing or two about engineering. If the Protheans knew as much, maybe she could have recovered a few more intact specimens. Build a better picture of their lives.

"Yeah. Thousands of people held in cryogenic suspension for years. Liberty was the first to arrive, and as I'm sure you can see, picked the best planets and areas for themselves. Though these days, Liberty is dependent on having most of it's raw resources imported. They've managed to deplete most of the economically viable sources already."

That… was a feat in itself. It takes a long time to deplete a system of resources, and even with an Asari's lifespan, it was very rare for one to encounter such a thing happening. Though with how much they were limited to a few systems, it would make sense for them to go through what economically feasible deposits there were quickly.

"Not like they need much of it these days anyway," Perkins continued, laughing as he did. "They've basically turned most of their economy into services and tech. Biggest Pharmaceutical company is Liberty, and the future of agriculture I'm convinced is SynthPaste. Not to mention the Big Three Liberty companies. Loads of people work for one of those service companies one way or another."

So, lacking raw materials, how was Liberty managing to influence the other Houses? It looked like that Liberty had taken the most habitable systems, and had the best technology. They did seem to have a lot of companies in important sectors though, transportation, financing, tech, medicine and agriculture. Maybe building a strategic balance of dependence? Liberty to the other Houses in terms of raw materials, and Liberty's products to the others? And when that failed, they would resort to their vaunted Navy?

"Right, I think we've spent enough time gawking at the building," Perkins said. "Let's go in and get you to meet the President."

Aela promptly followed him into the building, and was pleasantly surprised with what she found inside. It was, for an ancient ship turned building, not only clean and well-maintained, but also rather tastefully decorated. Along the walls were a few paintings, their meaning completely foreign to her, they were too abstract for a relative newcomer like her to figure out, but she was sure he could figure it out with time. In addition, statues stood in each corner of the room, of unfamiliar humans wearing some sort of headdress. Strangely enough, she'd never seen any human wear that kind of headdress before, so she wondered what its significance could be. Maybe the President would be wearing it too?

And for better or worse, none of the tasteful decor suitably distracted from the security measures all over the room. The blatant security was fairly light, comprised only of two guards wearing some sort of hardsuit and carrying some nasty looking rifles over by the elevator, but she had the very distinct impression they were only the tip of the iceberg. She didn't even want to think about the other security measures she was sure were there, lurking out of sight.

Even as they approached, the men never broke their professional looking stance, reminiscent of C-SEC at some high profile scene. "Where to, ma'am?" one of them said.

"We're off to see, the President, sir," Perkins said, using his 'I'm piloting now' voice.

"I'd normally ask for identification, but seeing as you're the only…" the guard said, struggling to find the proper term.

"Asari," Aela helpfully supplied him. Not that she couldn't fault him much for it, with her being the first of her kind here.

"Asari, for light years ma'am," the man said looking at Aela, "I'm just going to let you both in. And thank you ma'am."

"Bobby," the man said after pressing something near his ear, likely a communicator. "Two foreign VIPs to see the Chief. Do the standards, but give a nice welcoming to the madam here."

A few seconds later and they were in an elevator, with a great view to the rest of the city. Skyscrapers towering over the landscape as far as the eye could see, hundred of ships, from strictly civilian models to police cruisers flew in designated lanes, from one point of the city to another.

It reminded her of home honestly. This scene wouldn't have been out of place anywhere on Ilium or even the Citadel. The Humans didn't seem too alien now that she thought about it. They just had a tendency to disagree.

Maybe a little violently, and more often than others, but still. Not too bad.

"You know," Perkins said as he looked out of the glass window. "I've always wondered what an alien city would look like. I guess I'll soon have a chance to see one huh?"

"It's not too different really," Aela replied. "Different architecture and car styles, but from here, this looks like a scene straight from Ilium."

"Ilium. First alien planet I've ever heard of." Perkins said a little quietly. "What's it like there?"

"Lots of corporations, home to plenty of mega rich individuals and a hub of trade in its area of space. Incidentally not too far away from here actually. Oh, and nearly everything I can think of is legal there too."

"Huh. Sounds like Liberty." Perkins said, light-heartedly. "I'm sure lots of Libertonians would love it there."

"Then I'm sure they'd get along perfectly well with the Volus."

"Who?"

"Methane breathing aliens. Short, rotund, and have a knack for trade. Consider it to be their highest calling. They even designed the Galactic currency as we know it. As I understand it, the Citadel credit is very similar to the Liberty one."

"A floating currency that has a constantly updated value in relation to several other currencies?" to which Aela nodded. "Definitely like Liberty."

"They don't have that much say in Galactic politics though." she replied.

"I'd say building your banking system would be a big say in politics," Perkins noted.

"But they don't have a seat on the Council."

"I don't see how a neutral party Council is supposed to be important."

"Well… it kind of works like this…" Aela explained. "The Council is made of the most influential races in the Galaxy. They have had to earn the position as a Council member. The Asari and Salarians were the founding members, and the Turians earned theirs after helping us win a war against the Krogan in the Krogan Rebellion. Since then, the Turians have been the primary peacekeepers of Citadel space."

"See, you have to be able to contribute when you become a Council member. Show you are capable of helping and contributing part of your resources to the joint peacekeeping fleets. The Turians have the greatest contributions, the Salarians are great at information gathering while the Asari contribute some of the latest in technology and expertise in small unit operations. The Volus, while certainly important for their place in society for the work they've done with the credit, aren't what I'd call the most… physically capable race."

"So the Council is essentially a… judge of sorts," Perkins replied back.

"Kind of. They are a neutral party between all the races of the Galaxy, and have a huge say in major decisions like agreements between all races, the settling of disputes and so on."

"Huh." Perkins said, as he stroked his chin. "I'm telling you this already, from the sound of it, each of the races are unified and have their own individual embassies right?"

"Yes."

"Then each of the Houses are going to want their own embassies. No way around that." Perkins said confidently.

Aela sighed at that. "There was once a time I would've been surprised at what you said. Though after meeting the other Houses... well, I think you're right. I just don't know how to explain it to whoever I'm reporting to…"

"Best start thinking then, because I have no idea how I'd do it either." Perkins replied back with a shrug.

Aela could only sigh at that. Perkins was right in that regard, it was only a matter of time before she would have to give her increasingly complicated report.

* * *

When Aela first saw president Richard Wallace, she immediately thought that he would fit the idea of politician to a T. He wore a smart suit, and a smile that, framed with his greying hair, seemed all too… fabricated. Like what mother told her to look for when Matriarchs were talking to each other.

The fact that the office they were in had a great view over most of the city, with nearly all of one side all glass, merely amplified the effect. This was what she imagined a Councillor's office would be like.

"Doctor D'Avo," the man said as he approached her, a wide smile on his face. "A pleasure to finally meet you."

Aela put on her own smile and approached the man who directed what many thought was the most powerful of the Houses. "I'm glad to finally be here myself, President Wallace." she replied. " It's nice to see Liberty myself, especially after hearing so much about it from the other Houses."

"I'm sure they've all told you many things but it pales in comparison to actually seeing it yourself," he said, turning around and looking out the window and over the city. "What do you think about it?"

"I think it's rather a lot like home." she replied in all honesty. A well developed society that valued freedom, enjoyed itself as the premier power and as the most economically powerful player as well. The only discernible difference she could find was the more prolific crime problem she heard of and the better military. "I think your people would get along with mine."

"Just Liberty or all of Humanity?" Wallace asked.

"I'm rather sure of Liberty and Bretonnia. The other Houses though…" she trailed off.

"Are complicated," Wallace finished for her. "As they always have been. But really, from here on out Aela, we only need to worry about the future of the Galaxy. I'm sure that as time goes by, both Liberty and the Citadel will be able to… come to agreements to help facilitate better arrangements for our people."

"I'm sure we'll get to that soon but I'm not the person to talk to for that." Aela continued.

"I understand. I'm here to help your people get a better understanding of Liberty. In turn, I get to know about your own people, so that when I get to Curacao myself, we don't misunderstand each other."

"Yes, but… I've heard all sorts of things about Liberty already." Aela said.

"Rich, powerful, best technology and biggest companies right?" President Wallace answered.

"That, and your people have a reputation for being friendly, hardworking yet fun loving as well. Decent folks all in all."

"Well then, I guess you don't have any questions?"

"Actually," Aela replied hesitantly, "I do have one. I hear that Liberty is starting to develop a crime problem of sorts."

"Ah, the Rogues and Xenos." President Wallace replied a little sagely. "A nuisance yes, but certainly a growing problem. With our transition to a more… information based economy, many of the former factory workers have felt it easier to turn to crime than to try and find a new job."

"How are you dealing with the problem though?" Aela asked.

"We've discussed the nature of the problem with Liberty Police Inc., and have decided to change our contract detail. A larger payment to help offset expenses for training new officers and ships along with the full cooperation of the Liberty Security Forces should swiftly bring this problem to heel soon."

"Hold on," Aela said after she realized what she just heard. "Did you privatize your Police force?"

"Yes we have, and I must say that it has been beneficial for all," Wallace replied. "Higher capture rates, no drain on government funds and all in all faster system means that everyone is happier in the end."

That brought it's own implications, though if the system worked, she really couldn't argue against it. A nation that believed in corporations might lead to complications, but she expected the Matriarchs would have a better idea of what they would be dealing with.

"But those criminals won't be a problem for much longer, as my experts in the LSF have assured me, so please. Let's instead talk about your people. Tell me about the Asari."

Here it was, time to give the spiel again, Aela thought as she brought herself into a more comfortable position.


	18. Chapter 18

_AN: It occurs to me that not all of you know that this story is currently a repost from the Creative Writing Forums of . I am the same SharkGlue of SB.  
I'm posting the slightly edited versions here on FFnet for everyone's enjoyment. _

In Orbit of Manhattan  
New York System

"My God," breathed out Perkins in awe. "They're real."

"What are?" Aela asked curiously.

"Those," Perkins said pointing to a pair of rather fearsome looking ships. Sleek, avian looking ships, with a very predatory look. It almost reminded her of a Turian ship, with its avian appearance and the fact that it looked to be very heavily armed. "I've never seen an Avenger before, let alone two." he said with a little bit of disbelief. "Those things are strictly reserved for LSF and Liberty Navy aces. Only the very best of Liberty get to pilot their best ships. Our own Very Heavy Fighters pale in comparison to those…"

"Very Heavy Fighters?" Aela asked.

"Let me put it this way," Perkins replied, "If I were to unload everything I had onto one of those ships till my reactors practically stopped to prevent us from overloading, I wouldn't put a significant dent in it."

"Mr Perkins, Dr. D'Avo," the coms suddenly blared out. "I'm LSF Commander Robert O'Neil. We've been tasked with escorting you two to Curacao. The President will be following tomorrow aboard the Victory."

"Thank you Commander O'Neil," Perkins replied on the comms. "I guess I'll take point then?"

"Up to you Mr Perkins. From Liberty space to Curacao, we have jurisdiction to act in whatever the situation demands." O'Neil replied.

"Right then," Perkins said, clearly going into what Aela suspected was his 'I'm leading a flight now' mode. "I'll take point Commander. You gents will cover me, and we'll be going through California first."

"Roger that, Mr. Perkins." Commander O'Neil replied.

"Never thought I'd be leading a flight of Avengers, especially in a dinky old Crusader." Perkins said out loud.

"I'm sure it'll be interesting," Aela replied. "What will we find in California?" she decided to ask.

"Well, there are a few ice clouds we'll be passing by before we hit the Cortez system. Aside from that, there are two inhabited planets in that system, Planet Los Angeles, and the terraforming platforms of California Minor."

"Terraforming platforms?"

"Yeah, Planetform Inc. has been contracted to terraform that planet by the Liberty government. They think it'll be a good place to start a new colony. It's their only other project I think."

"I'd like to see that at least. It'd be nice to see in person a terraforming project on this scale."

"It's a little out of our way," Perkins replied. "Are you sure you want this?"

"Yeah. We don't have anything like this back home. It's simply much easier for us to explore for new systems than to try and terraform."

"All right then, we'll make for California Minor before heading to Curacao. Though I'm rather interested in hearing how it's easier for one to go explore than terraform."

"I'll explain after seeing it for myself. I just need to make sure," she finished. Time to settle for the ride to California Minor

* * *

New London Jump Gate,  
Manchester system

Travel through the Jump Gates was… interesting to say the least. All attempts to get even nominal readings within the wormholes for analysis had failed. One attempt by one of the attending Salarian frigates nearly destroyed their sensor systems. It was baffling to say the least.

The Humans themselves knew nothing about went on inside one. They said they didn't even bother with attempts on non-specialized ships these days, and even those only get tiny bits of usable data. Probably a reason why this Liberty held a monopoly on building the Gates.

"We've arrived at the Manchester system," one of the bridge officers said. "All systems are green."

"Excellent," Captain Geron finished. "Proceed with going through the Trade Lane."

"Affirmative," replied another Deck officer.

Yet another interesting piece of Human technology. A system of machines that automatically compensate for the orbits of the planets they connect to. Very useful for in-system travelling, and could potentially allow eezo to be used for strictly out-of-system ships. Traveling through the Lanes was not as fast as travelling with standard FTL, but it was certainly an interesting experience. Not something she'd recommend to replace militarily though.

Human space on the other hand… was very interesting. Travel through Leeds had certainly shocked many aboard, especially with the sheer amount of pollutants and acids that they passed through, and they had apparently avoided the most concentrated clouds of smog.

New London had treated them to several entire scrap fields of old ships. A gold mine for them if they luck out and find some of even their old technology to use. The detritus of centuries of industrialization would certainly help them catch up and maybe understand the underlying principles of the sciences they used.

"Receiving a signal coming within system. Translating." the communication officer said suddenly. "Receiving a hail from the Stirling. Shall I patch it through, sir?"

"Go ahead." Captain Geron replied.

"Captain Geron, Matriarch Benezia," Captain Dunbar said. "We've received a distress call from BPA Newgate, a prison within the system. They're under heavy attack by a large flight of Mollies, probably trying to liberate one of their leaders. We must divert."

"I've translated the signal that Captain Dunbar is talking about," one of the other communication officers said. "But I don't see the urgency in it. It goes I quote, 'This is BPA Newgate to all ships within system. We're in a spot of trouble, so a little assistance would be nice.' The man said it in a calm voice, sir."

"Colonel Gates has always been a model officer of Bretonnia," Captain Dunbar replied. "We Bretonnians have a gift for understatement and calm, and that was the most vocal plea for aid I've yet to hear from the man. The Stirling and Norfolk will be making full-speed to the prison."

"We'll be happy to assist as well Captain," Benezia replied. It would be an opportune time to help with relations with the Bretonnians. "Give us the coordinates and we'll make full speed for it."

"Are you sure you want to assist?" Dunbar asked, his voice tinged with hints of worry. "I've seen the aftermath of that engagement of yours in the Tau 30 system and it wasn't what I would call pretty."

"I insist, Captain," Benezia replied. "I believe that if we are to truly become friends in the future, we must be able to help you in some form." Incidentally putting us into a better light. "Besides, I think we are better equipped for this. I'd like to think that we've managed to learn a thing or two."

"If you must insist, then at least take what fighters of mine with you. I imagine your FTL would require they dock with you?"

"Yes Captain." Benezia replied.

"I'm sending you 1st and 3rd squadrons. I think it'll be faster for them to dock with you. Take them with you then fly to these coordinates. Good luck Matriarch, Captain. These Mollies are smarter than most give them credit for. Be careful."

"We've received coordinates," the communications officer replied. "Orders?"

"Captain Geron, I'll leave the details to you. Relay to the rest of the fleet to go to FTL and head to the station."

Once orders were relayed throughout the fleet, it took only a few minutes to pick up the fighters that Dunbar assigned to them and then fly towards Newgate.

Based on what she could make out on the visual feeds, the BPA Newgate was essentially a giant cube in space, surrounded by a literal sphere of mines. According to what Dunbar sent, there was only one way into the station, and the only things that were preventing any more Mollies from entering the station was them, and a few heavily damaged weapons platforms. She could make out certain portions of the station to be segmented, likely as a means of easy detachment in the case of prison riots. Right now though, one of the docking ports was open and smoke was leaking out.

"Open a line to the prison, and tell all ships to deploy all interceptors to cover the passage. I need a report immediately!" Geron commanded.

"Aye sir. Opening line now. Fighters are being deployed."

"This is Colonel Gates of the Bretonia Police Authority, I trust you are the help Dunbar promised?"

"Affirmative. Captain Dunbar of the Stirling sent us. Report please." Geron replied.

"Right. About a half hour ago, a riot broke out in cell block A, where we're keeping who we suspect is one of the Mollies' top men, Patrick Ryan. A few minutes later, largest swarm of Mollies I've ever seen comes out of the Sheffield Ice Field and attacks us, taking down what escorts we had. A few of them managed to break through and land both weapons and reinforcements to the prisoners aboard. I'm beginning to suspect that they're not only here for Ryan, but plan on liberating the whole station. I need both Marines to help with the station, and fighters to prevent any more Mollies from breaking through and entering the prison."

"Right, we'll be dispatching marines to assist once we clear the area around the passage, Newgate."

"Be careful. What weapons platforms we have left aren't going to last much longer so you are all that stands between the Mollies and Newgate. Good luck."

"Captain," Benezia said after he broke off communications. "I offer the use of my Commandoes to assist. They will be of more use there than sitting here."

"I agree, and thank you Matriarch." Geron replied.

Benezia settled in for the wait. She had done all she could. This was out of her hands now.

* * *

Around BPA Newgate Prison  
Manchester system

Kevin Blake was not having a good day. If everything went to plan, then he and the several flights they had scrambled from Aranmore to save Ryan, would have taken over Newgate and liberated the prisoners within, swelling their numbers.

Instead, some weird military convoy pops up and throws the rest of the boys into a panic, effectively stranding the few Molly fighters to run through the weapon platforms guarding the passage through the minefield, and into the prison. Not that he could blame them, there was a Battleship sitting on the entrance to the passage, and it brought along a lot of friends to tangle with them. So much for his lucky horseshoe. Still, as the defacto leader of the Molly fighters that had yet to breakthrough to Newgate, he had to at least try to take out a few of the fighters.

"Right boys!" he shouted into his comms. "Form up! We can't abandon Ryan and the others without a fight. Form up on me, and we'll see how many of those bastards we can take down."

Which if he was being honest with himself, wouldn't be much. His Wolfhound was the best equipped ship around, and a lot of his equipment was jury-rigged pieces bought from Junkers, and occasionally, taken from ships he shot down. They might take down a couple of fighters and maybe the rest of the weapons platforms, but the Battleship would live on to terrorize Dublin.

Sure the weird looking Battleship looked all delicate like, but it was probably because it was some new design, or worse, a Liberty dreadnaught visiting the King. The damn spindly looking fighters that it deployed, along with some Crusaders, sure looked mean too. After all the planning to bypass the Bounty Hunters on Sheffield too…

"We're no use to him dead!" roared one of his lieutenants, and he really couldn't argue with that. It would be hard for a corpse to run a prison break after all.

"We could at least make a pass. See if we can liberate him, and whoever he can squeeze into a Wolfhound!" he argued back.

"Too risky," most of the men argued. "We're running for the ice fields. We'll lose them there."

"They're forming up for a pass!" warned one of his wingmen.

Kevin cursed at that. The rest of his men were disorganized and out of formation in open space. Easy pickings for the Bretonnians and whoever they were flying with.

"We've got to reform," he said, putting as much conviction he could into his voice. "It's our only chance!"

"Bugger that, I'm running for it!" screamed Green, one of the other veterans of the operation. That quickly convinced quite a few of the rookies with them to flee as well.

Kevin couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. While they were simply being pragmatic, a large part of him was angry at them for not taking the opportunity to try and kill more BMM lapdogs.

Soon enough, the wedge of firepower that was the Bretonnian flights passed through the still disorganized mess of Mollies. While Kevin was trying to make a pass on the flanks of the wedge, he was caught in the open by a pair of those spindly fighters. They approached his 3 o'clock at full speed, rapidly firing some sort of gun according to his sensors. Which was completely weird. No one used guns in space because well, no has managed to develop a rail gun that could fire both rapidly, and fire fast enough to make a decent enough dent in a shield. These however, while not exactly what he'd call top of the line, were slowly nicking away his shields. Best get rid of them now.

He quickly made use of his turrets and launched a well-aimed volley of neutron beams at his target. He was surprised to see it's shields go down so quickly though, only a single volley was enough to break them and allow the subsequent shots to quickly disable the fighter, causing it's wingmate to veer off.

Well that removes the Liberty fighter theory.

"Guys," Finn, one of his lieutenants replied, "Try shooting at them spindly lookin' fighters. Use your turrets if you insist on runnin."

While there were a few grumbles amongst those already running, a few of the braver ones who decided to stay were making their own individual attack runs.

"Their shields are hardly there..." said Green, a little disbelieving once the others were calling in kills.

"And their armor is shite." Kevin finished for him. "We can still free Ryan boys!" he shouted joyously. "Form up! Let's take the fight to 'em!"

* * *

Aboard the Jaelor  
Manchester system

Captain Geron hoped that his initial push with the fighter screen against the Mollies would've caused more enemy casualties, especially with his plan to split the Bretonnian squadrons and have them lead the Citadel squadrons. It… hadn't worked as intended.

While the Bretonnian fighters had certainly helped, expertly organizing the interceptors into wedges and targeting the best concentration of Mollies, enemy casualties were comparatively light. The Bretonian fighters were dealing the most of the damage, while the machine guns of the Citadel interceptors were simply too ineffective to break through their shields. Now the Mollies were forming up and organizing, and were definitely going to try and break the fighter screen.

"Order all Interceptors to fall back to around the fleet. Let's make use of those UV GARDIAN batteries." Geron ordered. "Link all ships targeting to concentrate fire on whatever we aim for."

"Aye sir. Relaying orders." replied one of the deck officers.

"Tell the Asari and the Turian ships to move further from the Jaelor, their GARDIAN batteries won't have as much range as the Salarian ones." he added as well. " They'll be able to fire sooner that way."

"Aye aye sir." the deck officer replied again.

Now it was a matter of waiting and trusting his men to do their jobs. They were some of the finest throughout the Union, and the men and women of the Asari and Turian ship were also some of the best. He could only hope that his tactics and UV GARDIAN batteries would make a significant difference.

Soon enough, the Mollies managed to organize themselves and began their own attack run. Mimicking their own attack earlier, the Mollie flew in a wedge, clearly aiming for one of the frigates, the Solik.

"All ships, concentrate fire on the targeted ship," Geron said, indicating the first ship in range of the Jaelor's GARDIAN batteries.

Soon dozens of laser batteries began opening up, quickly igniting the targeted ship's shields. It still took a distressingly long minute before any sign of the shield dissipated, and by then the Mollies had managed to get in close enough to open fire on the Solik itself.

The Citadel fighter squadrons quickly began to engage and distract the Mollies, hoping to buy time for the GARDIAN batteries to destroy the Molly fighters. It was quickly becoming obvious though that Citadel interceptor weaponry was mostly ineffective against the Mollies. It was only when a few of the fighters of Spoton flight decided to forget doctrine and jump directly to using their heavy cannon instead of using the machine guns to wear down the Molly shields did they do any sort of appreciative damage. Even then, the Bretonnian fighters were doing the majority of the work fighting the Mollies, doubtless due to their superior weaponry and experience in dealing with these

A single Molly wing managed to evade the fighter screen though, and headed straight for one of the outlying Salarian frigates, the Solik.

"All ships, target that flight! They're headed for the Solik!" he ordered.

Soon, he could see in his display that only a few ships were able to respond. Those Molly fights would break through.

He could see for a brief moment the Mollies unleashing all their weapons on the Solik's engines, and for a brief moment, the barriers ignited visibly, then broke as the sheer firepower behind that flight broke through and hit the engines, quickly melting through what little ablative armor there, before the Molly flight broke off. One flight of interceptors then managed to meet the Molly flight, ensuring that they won't be able to make another pass at the Solik.

"Reports are coming in sir, the Solik is reporting heavy engine damage. They won't be able to move her." reported one deck officer.

"Spoton flight reports heavy casualties. Half the squadron is either KIA or too damaged to continue." reported another

Report after report continued to stream in, and while the damage wasn't as bad as he feared, it was not as well as he hoped. The Bretonian squadrons had managed to help divert most Molly attention, helping save many a Citadel interceptor.

It was with a sigh of relief that Geron welcomed the arrival of the Norfolk and Stirling arrived, along with a few more foreign looking fighters. The sight of the two Battleships quickly drove the Mollies into an organized retreat, fleeing back into the ice field.

"Receiving a hail from the Stirling sir," reported the communication officer.

"Put the Captain through." Geron ordered.

"Captain Geron," Dunbar greeted, a little bit of gruffness in his voice. "I see you've managed to hold off the Mollies. How bad is the damage?" he asked.

"Better than I feared, but worse than I hoped," Geron replied. "My own fighters have a distressingly high casualty rate, and the Solik, one of my frigates is reporting critical damage. She will have to stay here to perform repairs,"

"Understood." Dunbar said. "We can go handle the Prison if you do not feel up to it. You and your men have done enough today."

"I understand Captain, and thank you for your concern," Geron replied. "But Matriarch Benezia insisted that she allow you the use of her personal guard in retaking the Prison. I honestly believe that they cannot hurt. They have centuries of experience, and would be welcome in any operation back home."

"Thank you kindly," Dunbar replied, appreciation clear in his voice. "I'm sending you coordinates for where to rendezvous with my own marines."

"Understood Captain." Geron said, ending the line. Now he could more or less relax. The only thing to worry about now was the repairs to his fleet...

* * *

_  
In Orbit of California Minor  
California system

Really, compared to what Aela had seen so far, she hadn't seen as many sights in Liberty space. The most visually astounding sight she had seen was the Kepler system, and as far as she knew it wasn't technically Liberty space.

The California system on the other hand, provided a sight that, while not what she'd call beautiful, was certainly interesting.

California Minor was a planet that was being terraformed. While terraforming was something entirely plausible by Citadel standards, the costs were entirely too prohibitive compared to simply searching for new planets. It was thought that it would take well beyond an Asari lifespan to make a planet habitable with what they had available

She had of course learned some of the details on human terraforming from King Alexander, but seeing Planetform Inc. in action was something else.

Formerly an ice planet entirely too cold for habitation, Planetform Inc. had actually managed to get the temperature of California Minor to more tolerable ranges. While this simply translated to being on average a few dozen degrees under freezing, it was now entirely plausible for one to stay outside for short periods in one's flight suit without freezing to death in seconds during daylight hours.

And to think, that according to what she had picked up, the company had managed to do this in a mere few hundred years. Compared to the best estimates of experts in Thessia, was well ahead of schedule.

"You know, these guys are actually behind schedule." Perkins replied, as if reading her thoughts.

Aela could only shake her head at that. She could hardly believe that this was behind schedule. She had specifically asked to take a look at this planet upon hearing about it. As the only other project of Planetform, she had thought it was important she at least see the planet herself, so that she could get her own readings.

Dotted with a few bases and outposts, likely where the meat of terraforming happens, the planet was still a long way away from colonization, but she figured that within a few more decades, small settlements may start to pop up.

"It's still well ahead of anything we have back home," Aela replied. "Terraforming on this scale… would've taken significantly longer than what Planetform has achieved here."

"Huh." Perkin said a little introspectively. "Didn't think about that. I always figured we'd be the ones learning from you."

"I think, that if anyone is going to be any learning, it'll be all of the other races back home." Aela said. "What I've seen here tells me your people have a better understanding of the sciences than we do. Energy weapons, your engineering, terraforming, jump gates… It's all so much more than I think we have to offer."

"There must be something your people can teach us." Perkins asked, a little disbelievingly.

"Our computers I think, and maybe Artificial Intelligence, but I'm no expert on that…"

"Nonsense. I'm sure you have plenty to teach us. Like that trick you pulled off in Kusari, can that be taught?"

"Biotics is a… complicated issue. You have to be born with it, and only the Asari are naturally biotic. The other biotics have been a result of… industrial accidents."

"Exposure to mutagenic compounds, that sort of thing?"

"More like an essential resource. Element zero, the basis for much of our technology… Accidental exposure to those in utero leads to… side effects. The fortunate ones get biotics. The unfortunate ones…"

"Either die in the womb or live deformed lives."

"Sadly yes," she replied. "Since we Asari are naturally biotic, these problems are non-existent for us, though eezo exposure can kill us."

"Huh." Perkins said. "I guess space magic had to have a catch."

"Nothing is ever simple, Perkins." Aela relied.

"Too right..." Perkins said sadly, as he took the Trade Lane to San Diego. Soon, Aela would finally arrive in Curacao.


	19. Chapter 19

In Orbit of Planet Curacao  
Cortez System

Finally, after what felt like ages, Aela had made it to her final stop in the Sirius sector. Planet Curacao. Completely neutral ground, owned by Orbital Spa and Cruise. It was essentially a resort world for the rich and famous, where anyone with the right amount of credits could throw away their worries for a brief time.

It would be here, that the Citadel representative would meet the four Houses of the Sirius sector, and ultimately, in some way, change the course of history forever. In a way, Aela was proud to be part of this moment, to help shape the future for what she hoped was the better.

She also really hoped she wouldn't run into any trouble while waiting here. For one thing, although she could make out the now familiar styles of Rhineland and Kusari ships, she had yet to see any sort of Citadel or Bretonian ships. That meant they would be meeting a little later than hoped.

'Hmm…" Perkins said aloud, disrupting Aela's thoughts. "Looks like your people will be a little late."

"Why?" she asked. They would probably be delayed by pirates, but who would try and attack a convoy with Dreadnaughts?

"Got a message from Captain Dunbar and the fleet that's escorting your Citadel representative. Looks like they stopped to help with a prison break in the Manchester system. It's not too far, seeing as the Manchester system is only one Jump Gate away, so the delay will only be a day or two." he said, trying to comfort her.

"I see." she said. it would also likely win them points with the Bretonnian government. Likely the Matriarch they sent figured the risks would be worth the reward.

"It also looks like the Captain has authorized a little… cultural education expense." Perkins said, his grin practically audible to Aela. "We're going to be relaxing on Curacao for a while."

That actually sounded quite nice. A relaxing stroll along a beach on Curacao would make an interesting change of pace.

A day of relaxing couldn't hurt after all.

* * *

BPA Newgate  
Manchester System

For Calia Sarsi, this particular scenario would definitely make her top five worst she'd ever faced. As an Asari Commando for the past six centuries, that spoke volumes.

Firstly, she and the team she led would be going into a prison station alongside unknowns who she hadn't worked with before, let alone have an idea of how they worked. These Humans were completely new ground, they could be as tough as Krogan as far as she knew, and had tactics to adjust as such. Or she could be overreacting and these humans were about as dangerous as a Volus rolling down stairs. She didn't know.

Worse, she'd be going against human criminals inside a cramped station, heavily limiting one of her team's greatest assets: their mobility. These criminals were also smart. They knew the stakes, it was either surrender or death at this point. The only way out was blocked by a fleet, and from what she heard, a lot of these criminals would rather die.

Still, there was a little good news. The warden of the station still held the offices and armory, all within easy access from their entry point in dock A. It would be hell though once they reached the prison block. The Mollies had managed to break through with enough weapons to make the locals nervous.

She could only hope that her experience would help her and her team get out of this alive.

"Right ladies and gents," said the leader of the Bretonnian Royal Marine group her team was assigned to, one Captain Price. A rather imposing man, who strangely enough seemed to have a large tuft of hair on top of his lips in addition to what she assumed to be under that red hat of his. That pristine looking tuft of hair, managed to somehow give an air of class and poise to a man Calia suspected would normally look intimidating in his night-black hardsuit and rifle. "We're up for a bloody hard fight. The Mollies have managed to dig in, and reports from the prison guards say that they've started freeing anyone interested in joining. Prison records say that we were lucky, with it being very under capacity at only 187 prisoners. With the few reinforcements the Mollies brought in, I think we can expect about 200 strong resistance, spread throughout the cell blocks."

"Are they all armed sir?" asked Lieutenant McGregor, Price's second in command.

"MI5 suggests that the Mollies are armed with civilian grade sidearms from Detroit. They hit a convoy headed for New London a few weeks back, and they think that it was in prep for this. So keep your heads down, lads and ladies, those Aegira guns pack a punch." Price said, his voice calm and commanding.

"Yes sir," replied McGregor professionally.

"Right then. Corporal Davies, the map please," Price ordered.

One of the marines walked forward and proceeded to bring out what looked like a small projector. Quickly pressing a few buttons, Davies proceeded to step back as the projector displayed a holographic map of the station.

As a giant cube in space, Newgate designed each cell block to be self contained. All the feeding and cleaning facilities for the prisoners were located there and were automated too. Each prisoner being in essence, contained in solitary confinement. The only other human element in there, in fact, was the prisoner processing. All prisoners were processed individually through those offices, which in turn led to a corridor that brought to the central guard offices. All these prisoners were brought in through a separate dock specifically for the prisoners, which lead directly to prisoner processing.

Which is incidentally how the Molly reinforcements got in.

"Colonel Gates has managed to hold down the station admirably," Price said. "But right now, cell blocks A and B are under complete Molly control." he said pointing to several large sections of the station.

"Cell blocks C and D are empty, and have been brought into complete lockdown to prevent any surprises from coming through those areas. The corridors leading to Cell Blocks A and B though are under Molly control. They've been mounting assaults on the guard room in an attempt to get to the armory, at least until the pilots managed to drive the Molly fighters off." Price continued.

"Least the flyboys managed to do something right," said one of the marines, which elicited a light chuckle from the rest of them.

"Enough lads," Price said. "Ever since then, the Mollies have been digging in, and the attacks on the guards have stopped. Orders have come in from High command that we are to pacify the station."

"Miss Sarsi," Price said, turning to her. "I've been led to understand that you are a veteran of many similar situations. Can you give me some input here?"

Four points of ingress, the two corridors of A and B that led to the guard stations and the two docking ports there. "Is capturing them still an option?" she asked.

"Command wants us to at least try. And if you were suggesting spacing them, Colonel Gates tried to do so through the docking ports, but the Mollies must have managed to get someone talented with computers. They've managed to override his control over those stations. It also explains how they managed to get as far as the guard room in the first place."

So, limited points of ingress, an entrenched enemy that has nothing to lose with the advantage of numbers as well. The only winning point she saw was that they were unlikely to have brought anything beyond the most basic of armor, and the training that these men likely had that those criminals didn't.

"Hit them fast and hard from multiple points," she said simply. "If we can, I'd like to hit them now, in fact. No use giving them any more time to fortify their positions."

Price nodded. "I'm glad that your assessment would agree with mine."

"I'm splitting us into two teams under me and McGregor." Price said. "I'll lead Sword team, McGregor will lead Juno. Miss Sarsi, how would you like to divide your team, if at all?" he then asked.

"I would prefer to keep my team together Captain." Calia replied. "Point us where you think resistance will be heaviest. I think it is there that we will be of most use."

"Ryan was held in Cell Block A. Seeing as he might still be there, then I think you'll join me in the assault there. McGregor will lead the assault on B. Good luck to all of us."

Calia nodded, and proceeded to begin checking her equipment. She would need everything in tip-top shape in the coming minutes.

* * *

St. Ives Hotel  
Planet Curacao

It was nice to be relaxing without any worries about politics for once, Aela thought as she browsed through some of Orbital Spa and Cruise's Luxury Liner trips in the hotel's library. She was seriously considering making a visit to one of them, some of the pictures they'd brought back were beautiful. She would love to see them for herself. The planet Gaia in the Edinburgh system was of particular interest to her. Incredible biodiversity, and only those with a registered researchers permit could actually land on it. The Shetland, Orbital Spa and Cruise's liner in the area was in constant orbit of the planet, and it provided some beautiful vistas of both the planet and the resident system.

And if the accommodations aboard the Shetland were anything like what she had here in Curacao, then she could definitely find some other distraction. Casinos with new games, an entire library of all sorts of media available from the room, succulent new foods, apparently imported directly from Cambridge. Staff that constantly attended to her requests. It was like she was living as some Matriarch that made a million credits by blinking.

Still, she couldn't imagine it to be particularly cheap. She'd noticed Perkins occasionally wincing when presented a bill. He wasn't complaining though, likely due to this being paid for by the Bretonian government.

"Perkins," she asked, turning to him as he was looking at another of the Liners, the Hawaii. "The Cortez and Sigma 19 system is strictly off House territory yes?"

"Yes." Perkins replied, his eyes still on the screen. "The Boorman treaty doesn't allow any sort of blockade into any House's space. Ships Frigate size and under may patrol the border systems to protect trade, and the larger ships like Cruisers and Battleships may enter foreign House space on invitation. It was designed to prevent inter House conflict."

"Then I imagine it's difficult for Orbital Spa and Cruise to defend themselves." she said. Sigma 19 was in the Border Worlds, and according to the neural net, was actively visited by both the Outcasts and Corsairs..

"I understand they have… incentives for certain elements to be stationed there. I know for instance that there are quite a few Bounty Hunters aboard the Hawaii, and there are quite a few here in Curacao right now too."

"Really?" she asked. Bounty Hunters while not exactly common back home, were around enough to at least be known. Their legality was… questionable, but sometimes the law needed someone who knew how the other side thought.

"Yes. In fact…" Perkins said, another trademark grin on his face as he looked in Aela's direction. "There's one right there, by the vending machine." he said as he pointed.

Aela turned around and there was indeed a woman by the vending machine. She certainly didn't look like the typical tourist here. She didn't have that air of money on her. She certainly didn't look the part with that armored jumpsuit she wore, an eyepiece on her left eye, and a mean looking pistol in her holster.

"Orbital Spa and Cruise pays handsome bounties for any criminals that infringe on their interests." Perkins said. "And considering the locations that they go to, I expect it's a well-made investment."

Aela could only nod at that. From what she remembered, Outcasts and Corsairs were not to be messed with. If these bounty hunters knew how to deal with them, then she couldn't blame Spa and Cruise for making accommodations for them. It would be the least they could do.

"Why are there bounty hunters everywhere though?" she asked. They seemed so ubiquitous too.

"They'll take in anyone. Ex-criminals are especially welcome into the Guild. They outfit you, check your knowledge, see if it matches up, even make sure to apprentice you to a master hunter, learn all the other tricks the other side has. They are a pretty organized lot, and even have their own ship and weapons designers. " Perkins replied, his voice more neutral this time. "They know where all the secret Jump Holes are, and those are often near most criminal bases."

"That makes sense." Aela replied. Intelligence was essential in any sort of attack on criminals. Although…

"I'm sorry, but Jump Holes?" she asked.

"Right, those are… think of them as natural Jump Gates. A lot more rocky, and not exactly what we'd call the safest way of travelling. Aegira discourage their use, but as someone who has been fighting criminals, I can tell you that they use them. A lot. Main way they've been able to bypass our patrols really."

Natural Jump Gates? If they were natural versions, then they could be studied. If they could be studied, that would be the first step in figuring out in how to artificially create them.

"Thanks for clearing that up Perkins." Aela replied. This was a lot to take in. This could be key to understanding a little bit more about the galaxy, and who knows, maybe there is a equivalent back home in Citadel Space? If they are natural, then they must form somewhere.

"I'm heading back to my room," Aela said. "I've got to review the report , make sure it's ready for when the Citadel representative arrives."

"Sure," Perkins replied, a smile on his face. "If you need me I'll be in the library. Meet for dinner then at the St. Augustine?"

"Yes, I'll meet you there." she replied. Seeing as how the talks would be happening in a few days, it was best to not stress herself too much she supposed. But this had to go into her report now.

* * *

BPA Newgate  
Manchester system

Calia was as ready as she was ever going to be. Price's plan of attack into cell block A was simple: shout out surrender, wait for the inevitable no, then shock and awe. Flash and clear was to be the standard tactic. It should be a classic breach and clear manoeuvre.

So as she waited by the door for Price's signal, she concentrated only on her breathing. Her fellow commandos knew what to do. Price and his men knew what to do. Now it was time for action.

"On my signal Corporal Brown, open the door." Price said, holding what looked to be a grenade in his hand. "Ready Miss Sarsi?" Price asked.

"Ready."

"Corporal, open the door… now!" he said as he pulled the pin.

Corporal Brown then pressed something in a panel nearby and the door slid open. Immediately, the Mollies began to shoot back, hundreds of rounds flying into the wall behind them.

"They aren't going to surrender, lads!" Price roared. "Deploying Flashbang!" he said as he threw the grenade into the corridor. Calia immediately closed her eyes and looked away. She was rewarded with the briefest flash of light and an intense ringing sound. It could've been worse, but still she was prepared.

"Go! Go! Go!" Price roared as he entered the corridor, the rifle in his hands expertly taking down Mollies with accurate laser fire. Goddess what she'd give to have one of those game changers.

Calia, armed with her Disciple shotgun, knew exactly what she needed to do for maximum chaos. She quickly turned around and using as much biotic energy she could muster, enveloping herself in a biotic barrier, and then charged at the nearest Molly, launching herself at incredible speeds straight into him and knocking him out. Textbook execution right there.

Her charge caused a brief lull in fire from both sides, shock clear in all their faces, but her fellow commandoes quickly broke that and opened fire on the Mollies, their expert aim rapidly eliminating many a shocked Molly out of cover, while their own biotics continued to wreak havoc among them. Cries of panic, and terror came from the Mollies as the biotic onslaught began. It took a while for Price's own men to recover from the display of biotic might and but they came back with avengence with accurate and devastating laser fire, causing the Mollies to quickly retreat back into the cell block, as they swiftly lost ground.

Not before one Molly tried to take her out, though. Her heart stopped for a brief moment as she turned around and caught one Molly with his hands on a gun aiming right for her.  
Goddess, this was where she finally died.

She could practically feel the world slow down as the Molly fired his weapon at her. Her heart seemed to thunder in her chest as the familiar surge of adrenaline and mortal terror flooded her. Her entire world seemed to narrow into only her, the Molly, and his gun, as the criminal's gun roared. All she could see now was that human's smug little smile, confident in the knowledge that she would die.

Goddess, even after years of fighting, the fear never leaves.

The fact that she saw her barriers visibly ignite in front of her only caused her to smile. The human used bullets, and the fact that the Molly's face blanched in horror was a great bonus, as Calia quickly brought her shotgun to bear on the Molly. She fired a round into the man, and was rewarded with a visceral sound of a few dozen rounds impacting into meat. The man slumped to the ground, dead.

Soon, the Mollies had cleared the corridor, and Price's men and her commandoes caught up with her.

"What in God's name was that?" Price asked incredulously. "Was it some sort of tech or something you ladies are born with?"

"Which?" Calia asked. "The charge or the surviving bit?"

"I'd like to know both, really." Price continued. "That would have been useful in a lot of situations."

"Born to do the charge, Captain, but the survival I'd like to think is a combination of luck, skill, and tech." she replied as the teams quickly took their positions by the door to the cell block.

"I'd like to have some that tech of yours." Price replied, a little gleam in his eyes as he said it. "If it can stop a bullet, it can stop shrapnel. Would definitely help cut down on casualties."

"You have no idea, Captain." Calia replied. "Ready to breach again?" she asked.

"Yes. Though I'd be happy if they saved us all some time and just surrendered." Price replied.

"Too right, sir." replied one of Price's Marines.

"Enough, we'll deploy flashbangs as soon as the door is open. You do that charge thing of yours on the nearest Molly, and if we're lucky they'll start surrendering." Price said.

"Got it." she said. Anything to help expedite the end of these hostilities.

"Corporal, on my signal," Price said as he pulled the pin on another grenade. "Go!"

This time the Mollies weren't as relentless in the amount of fire they threw at Calia and the Marines. Another thunderous bang of noise and light, and Calia was off, charging at a Molly, knocking this one into another criminal. This time, she quickly moved into cover, and it was from here that she took stock of the situation.

Her fellow commandoes had done well, quickly moving from to the Mollies' flanks, taking cover where available, and where unavailable, making their own through the judicious use of the their biotics, a few unfortunate souls literally shredded apart as dozens of miniature mass effect fields tore them to pieces, while others floated out of cover, weightless and easy targets for all. The Marines meanwhile were quickly moving forward from the entrance, expertly moving and eliminating threats while moving from cover to cover. The Mollies, meanwhile, were trying their best to rally a defense, while a few other humans, likely criminals the Mollies tried to recruit, were lying on the floor with their hands on the back of their heads, showing they were surrendering.

"Form up on me, boys," shouted a voice. "Let the bastards come to us! Fall back to the cells!"

"That's Ryan!" Price shouted on the comms. "Take him down, and I think we'll break the Mollies here."

"Which one is he?" Calia asked. If they could bring this conflict to an faster, it would be better for everyone involved.

"The bloke in red and gold." Price replied. "He's rallying them near the other end of the block."

"I see him." Calia replied tersely. If she could take him down, it might spare lives. "I think I can take him, but I need covering fire as I advance to range."

"Got it. We'll provide covering fire." Price replied.

"We'll put pressure on them, Calia." Salia, one of her fellow commandoes replied. "We're in a good enough position to keep them in one place."

"Good." was her reply as she began to charge towards one Molly position, three of them on her last count. Gotta be quick, tag one, then blast the other two with her shotgun.

She gathered as much of that biotic energy that she could, and released it all, pushing herself forward into the Molly position, knocking out one Molly. The other two were still shocked when she promptly blasted them both quickly with her shotgun. Not wanting to repeat her earlier mistake of standing still, she quickly made for the other side of the upturned table this particular group of Mollies was using. Goddess, for civilian grade weapons, those guns pack a big punch.

She took a breath to calm herself, then took a peek out of cover. She soon spotted what looked like Ryan, still bravely trying to rally his men to his position. He was just within range of other biotic charge, but it looked like it would be risky if she continued to press on without waiting for the others to catch up.

"Captain Price, I need you and your men to move up." she said into her comms. "I can reach him, but I'd like some backup to help press things."

"Roger that Miss Sarsi, we're moving up." Price replied calmly. "Lads, move up! Staggered advance." he ordered on the comms.

No affirmatives were needed as the marines slowly and professionally advanced, one man covering the other as he advanced, unleashing accurate laser fire upon the Mollies caught in the open. Slowly but surely, the Mollies were being cornered as the marines caught up to Calia's position.

Captain Price himself soon caught up to Calia's position, as he slided to her side.

"Are you ready?" Price asked over the din of gunfire.

"As I'll ever be." Calia replied grimly.

"Cheer up," Price replied cheerily. "It's only a little bit of gunfire. This is all some rightly needed exercise it is."

Calia wasn't really sure how to reply to that in all honestly. That the man could call this situation "exercise" must be a cultural thing. A really weird cultural thing. "I'm going after Ryan, then I'll try and get them to surrender." she elected to reply. It was the safest approach she could think of.

"Good luck then," Price said as he rose up, rifle in hand. "Covering fire!" he ordered his men.

Marines popped out of cover and began to lay down a withering hail of fire, while her own fellow commandos threw out warps where possible, If they could pull Ryan out of cover, they would, but none of them were close enough to do so.

Once again, Calia gathered the biotic energy around her and released, launching herself directly at Ryan. The look of shock on his face as she knocked him into the wall, was embedded into her consciousness as she launched a volley of shotgun fire into him, and then, risking exhaustion, gathered biotic energy and launched herself back towards Captain Price.

The Mollies were now clearly in disarray. Without Ryan to rally them, it looked like a lot of the weaker willed ones, likely new recruits were starting to visibly panic.

"Now's our chance," Price said as he bravely stood up without his rifle raised.

"All right you lot!" he said loudly over the occasional gun shot. "His majesty is feeling kind today, and he's still offering you sorry bunch the chance to be put under his mercy!"

Calia could hear a lot of muttering coming from the Mollies. Without Ryan to rally to, it was now likely that his subordinates would surrender.

"How do we know that you bastards won't shoot us?" yelled one of the Mollies.

"That would mean some other bloke shooting me, and then stealing all the credit!" Price retorted.

More murmuring came from the Mollies, which steadily grew louder into arguing. One gunshot later, and then it was quiet.

"We surrender! Don't shoot!" one of them yelled.

"Drop your weapons and hands on your heads!" Price yelled as he directed his Marines forward. "You know the drill, lads," he ordered his men. "Secure the perimeter. No Molly here is getting by us."

"Price to McGregor, Cell Block A is secure. How is your situation?" Price asked on the comms.

"The lads and I were about to grab a good cuppa. The blokes started surrendering once they realized how outgunned they were. I think we got all the low ranking grunts, suh."

"Lucky bastard. Secure your perimeter and we'll debrief in an hour." Price good naturedly replied.

"Copy that sir. See you in an hour." McGregor replied cutting things off.

"Well Miss Sarsi, you and your fellow ladies really do live up to your reputation." Price said, a smile on his face. "Good work there. I hope you can teach more to us over the years."

"I'd be happy to." Calia replied. If nothing else, working with the Bretonnian marines had been an… interesting experience.

* * *

BPA Newgate  
Manchester system

Patrick Ryan was dead. That was fact. One of the new guard of Molly leaders was now dead at the hands of some alien woman with her freaky magical abilities.

That doesn't mean he lost, thought Josh Connors. Ryan was always a smart cookie.

"Listen to me," Ryan said to Connors. "I'm a dead man and I know it. But you're the best tech we have on station. Stay alive, surrender, and find a way to smuggle that footage out of here. If these blue bitches are working with Bretonnia, Arranmore will need every scrap of help they can to fight them on their own terms."

Here Ryan breathed in, and had his face embedded into Connor's mind. For despite facing imminent death, he looked surprisingly at peace. "For the dead at the hands of Graves, we'll have a free them that Connors. Freedom, will be ours."

So despite every fiber of his being telling him to pick up a gun and die in a blaze of glory, he did as he was told. There was no way to transmit the data to the other ships, they would have already made it to the Sheffield Ice fields by now, and transmitting to them without the Bretonnian ships picking up on it was tricky at best. That left only one option. Sneaking it past the Bretonnians until someone could come in, or it can be smuggled out.

It was only a matter of time now before someone could smuggle it. All Connors had to do was wait in prison.

Not like there was anything else to do in prison.


	20. Chapter 20

Hotel St Ives, Planet Curacao  
Cortez system

After what felt like forever, Aela was to finally ready to hand in her report. Weeks of traveling around the Sirius system and meeting a great deal of interesting people had led to all sorts of insights into the weird and wonderful humans. She definitely felt that the humans would change things in the galaxy. She knew that they were going to set all sorts of… precedents in the future. 

Just thinking about how to explain the veritable powder keg that was Human distrust of the other Houses was going to be a nightmare. There was just no way that they'd let any one person represent all of the Houses. None of the Houses could trust any representative other than their own to represent their interests.

The fact that, collectively, the humans had more than enough firepower to take on any individual Citadel fleet easily did not help at all. There were no peace agreements between the Houses like the Citadel's Treaty of Farixen. They were free to build whatever and however many ships they pleased. Their only real restriction, and the closest thing she found to the Humans definitively agreeing to something was this Boorman treaty she found. It could be summarized into a non-aggression pact between the four Houses. Open full scale warfare was banned between the Houses, and no one was allowed to position military ships larger than a gunboat within the Border systems. In theory, this brought the Humans under one collective group, at least by Citadel standards.

A group comprised of members that, to her understanding, actively try to sabotage the other members through any and all means available to them other than open warfare. Goddess, it was a mess she wouldn't have wished on anyone. 

Still, the report had been sent the moment the fleet arrived in orbit of Curacao, and she had simply been waiting to deliver the details in person to Matriarch Benezia herself in her room, pacing about like there was no tomorrow. 

Of course that didn't stop Perkins from smirking like he knew something was up. He had just been sitting on a chair by the corner of the room watching as she paced about the room.

"I understand you're worried," Perkins said, his voice light with mischief. " But I don't see the point in wearing down the carpet with your pacing." 

"I'm meeting Matriarch Benezia," Aela replied exasperatedly. "One of the most influential and powerful Asari in the galaxy. She's certainly one of the wisest and likely the absolute best choice the Council could have picked to represent Citadel interests. Therefore, I'm worried that I'll have to break to her that you humans are so… difficult." she finished, waving her hands around to try and grasp the situation.

"I don't think you're in as bad a situation as you make it out to be, you know…" Perkins replied. "I mean, it's not like we're setting up a lot of incredible precedents, right?"

Aela could only sigh in response to that. "Actually, yes! The thing is, you humans are very different from every other first contact we've ever made. Only the Rachni were anything close, and that was more due to the millennia long war that resulted from that contact."

"You humans, for one thing, don't even share the same technological base we have, and at least the Rachni with all their weirdness, still had that. You don't make use of one the most important elements Citadel society knows of, and you have a grasp of energy generation and projection that is much greater than ours. You even have genuine artificial wormhole generators, and the means to travel what sounds like natural wormholes."

"Then there is the fact that I'm absolutely sure that there is no way that any of the Houses will let any single representative represent all of Sirius humanity. They'd all want their own embassies, with their own ambassadors, which will definitely rankle some heads back home, particularly the Batarians."

"All of that, I'm supposed to convey to one of the most powerful individuals in both the Asari Republics, and Citadel space. I don't know why I wouldn't be pressured!" she finished.

"Well, no one's going to die if you tell her all that," Perkins replied with a shrug. "We humans are flexible in that. Change is coming, and I for one look forward to it."

"I don't know if my own people will be as welcoming. This will change far too much…" Aela replied with a helpless shrug. 

"Cheer up, that just means you have to take your future with both your hands and grasp it firmly!" Perkins replied cheerily. "Though, I feel like I must bring up my future…employment issues."

"I'm not sure how I can help you there, Perkins. I'm only an archaeologist, and while my University does allow for a security budget, I'm not sure if it will fit your price range." 

"I'm not worried about money. I'm loaded in Sirius creds, and I'm sure that when a favorable exchange rate is introduced or some such, my money will at least help me survive comfortably wherever I go. What I'm asking for is an opportunity to explore."

"You see, from the sounds of it, Sirius space isn't that big compared to what you have under your control. Citadel Space sounds positively huge. I want to see that. If I can't serve Bretonnia, then I want to live out the tales of my people, going boldly into virgin territory and, while not necessarily claiming it in the name of Bretonnia, certainly interacting with the people, and maybe discovering new and valuable trade routes. I'm sure that while escorting you to your various dig sites and doing the occasional supply run, I'm going to see a lot more of the galaxy at large. What do you say to that then, Aela?" 

It was certainly not a bad idea. Perkins was definitely a capable pilot, and he had a decent ship too. He even had the money to go and purchase what would amount to a freighter if need be. It seemed a reasonable enough request. "That sounds good to me. We'll discuss the details as we go, but I like to think that we're going to have some interesting adventures together, Perkins."

"Sir Stanley didn't discover the source of the greatest river on our homeworld without some adventures of his own. I'd like to think I'm merely living up to the reputation and legacy of my forefathers, Aela. Besides, I'm sure it'll be safer than fighting Corsairs." Perkins replied confidently. 

Aela was about to explain the Blood Pack, when she received a message from her Omnitool. "She's here." she said, after reading the alert. "I am to meet her in her suite a floor up, without you, Perkins." 

"State secrets and all. I understand. I'll meet you later for dinner, then. I'm still able to charge His Majesty for a lot of the amenities here, and I best be taking advantage of that."

Aela could only smile at that. Perkins, if he were a model of the average Bretonnian, seemed to take nearly everything in stride. The only thing that seemed to really faze him was the Blood Dragons and the Corsairs. It would be good to have someone like that in her next dig, wherever that may be.

Still, as she made her way to Matriarch Benezia's room, she couldn't help but feel some of her nervousness return. This was likely to be the most momentous event in a generation. This would be the point in history where generations will look back and say "I wish I could've been there." Interesting times were ahead, and she was spearheading its arrival.

Upon arriving at the room, she greeted the guard, doubtlessly a commando, with a smile and bow. "Greetings, I'm Dr. Aela D'Avo, here to meet Matriarch Benezia as requested."

The commando simply nodded, and after a brief security check, was ushered into the suite.

It was certainly rather classy. Whoever designed this particular room must have taken a page from the Bretonnians, with it's heavy use of dark cherry red wood walls and furniture, and lots of scarlet furniture. Benezia was sitting down on one rather plush scarlet chair, reading a book until she noticed Aela come in. 

"Dr. D'Avo. Please come in, take a seat," she said in a very welcoming voice.

"Thank you Matriarch," Aela replied as she took the seat opposite her. 

"From what I've managed to read in your reports, and what I've witnessed myself among the Bretonnians, these humans are certainly… different." Benezia started. 

"Yes Matriarch, I honestly don't expect them to… react in the same manner as the other races have. They will demand something… unprecedented, I believe." Aela replied.

"Oh?" Benezia said, her voice remaining calm and almost motherly. "Please elaborate."

Aela gulped slightly. "From what I understand, one of the few things preventing the humans from descending into open warfare is the Boorman treaty, a sort of non-aggression pact between all of them. Other than that though, as I'm sure you've read in my report, there seems to be a lot of underlying tension between all the Houses for territory, resources, and influence here in the Sirius sector. Now that they've been opened up to the rest of the galaxy, they will be competing for any territory to be definitively assigned to them, and this isn't counting the possibility of some simply wishing to form colonies independent from the Houses. I am positively sure that the humans will demand that each House will have their own embassy, and equal non-preferential treatment as well. If we favor one House over another openly, I'm afraid we'll drive the other Houses away." 

"So you are advocating a very gentle hand when dealing with them, then? Especially in regard to colonization rights?" Benezia inquired.

"Well… yes. My understanding of them leads me to believe that, well, they're starting to run out of living space. While many of them do not mind living in stations light years away from the nearest planet, I think it's a matter of real living space. Bretonnia has openly revealed that they are on the path to total famine if they don't get any new colonizable planets soon, hence their massive investment into Planetform Inc." Aela relied a little more comfortably. 

"And what is their position on slavery? I've not seen any mention of it in your reports." Benezia suddenly asked.

"I'm honestly not sure," Aela responded. That was a little off tangent from their previous topic. "But from what I picked up when describing the other races to Perkins, all of the Houses disapproved of what the Batarians do, though I am unsure if it's due to the actual slavery or the state-sponsored piracy."

"I see," Benezia replied, suddenly standing up.

"And what of your thoughts on each of the individual Houses? I'm sure that beyond what their government told you, you've had a chance to observe their people. What would you say about them?"

That was certainly a difficult question. People were complicated after all, but…

"Well… they're like us in a way. It's hard to really put a stereotype to them. They've got both good and bad people like us, but I think I've managed to find a few traits common to each House." 

"The Bretonnians," Aela started. "Seem to be able to take just about any situation short of certain death with a kind of… cheekiness that I've never seen before. In fact, if their enemies demanded surrender, and offered certain death for defiance, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave some sort of witty retort that would end with the Bretonnians having a devilish grin on their faces. They are intelligent, hardworking stoics, though they do have their own problems. I'm sure you've heard of the Mollies, seeing as they were our first hostile encounter with Humans, but there is a another relatively new group starting to form. Perkins has mentioned that there are a bunch of eco-terrorist attacks, primarily on Planetform and BMM executives, all being claimed by the "Gaians", supposed protectors of Planet Gaia in the Edinburgh system, a rare biological marvel that I think we should try to visit."

"And these new terrorists are all relatively young, yes?" Benezia asked.

"By Sirius standards, yes. These two groups are very young, and I don't think they have gathered full steam yet, though they themselves have a cause beyond money or power, which many Sirius criminals have." Aela replied."A common theme in crime in the Sirius is that many of the groups turned to crime because they felt it was their only available option. Lack of jobs, safety, freedom, all of them fight for some reason or another, and very few do it for sheer profit or powertrip. At least to my knowledge."

"Then that is something I think we can help to address." Benezia replied happily. "Though I'd like to hear more about the other Houses, so please, continue."

Aela simply nodded and continued. "Rhinelanders on the other hand seem to have two personas: one for work and one for everything else. In work they are from what I hear hard workers, and some of the finest engineers in the Sirius sector. While at work they may put up a rather cold persona, but once they are having fun… well they are like a Maiden in Omega. Other than that though, they seem to be rather deflated. A lot of the change that was promised to them in the revolution hasn't come to pass yet, and I suspect some of the old revolutionaries are starting to make trouble again. Their Chancellor has revealed that a couple of the older revolutionary groups have begun gathering again. Meanwhile, a lot of their pirates are really revolutionaries who are unsatisfied with the way things are going in Rhineland. A… representative of theirs contacted me and told me of the many problems they have had since the revolution. Broken promises by the government, continued abuses by companies, a steadily worsening economy. Things are just getting worse and worse for them. They feel that our presence, could change things for the better, though. We might provide enough pressure to help resurrect the economy, and maybe even get the rebel groups to settle with the government."

"I think I have a plan for that, but I will wait for more of your comments on the other Houses first. I want to see if it could work for more than one House." Benezia replied.

"The Kusari are a complicated people. They place great emphasis on a concept called face, something akin to shame, but deeply more complicated. I myself don't quite get all of it, and even the other Humans don't necessarily understand it either. Suffice to say though is that it can drive them to do incredible acts in order to remove the shame from their honor, up to and including ritual suicide. Other than that though… The older generation wishes for a more isolated policy. The less interaction with the others, the better. If Kusari could be completely cut off and they could maintain their lifestyle, then that would be perfect for them. The younger ones, though, love the other Houses. They constantly visit the expat bases to indulge in everything foreign, and are very receptive to new ideas." Aela finished before taking a deep breath. The next bit would be… difficult.

"I have also… come into contact with their most prominent and dangerous revolutionary group, the Blood Dragons." Aela started cautiously. "They apparently followed me and Perkins to the very edge of the Hokkaido system, and I suspect they cleared out bandit. From what I've managed to gather, they seem to be some sort of good pirate of the Sirius sector, and are among the very finest pilots. Perkins claims that a single flight of them could take on a Battleship and win. Anyway, they fight to change the current regime, seeing as the current Shogun is a descendant of one placed by the Samura Corporation. I was also under the protection of two… individuals, I guess, while I was in New Tokyo: Ainu and Kyoto, though I never met them in person. I suspect they are related to the Blood Dragons in some way, possibly high level agents."

"They will be… difficult." Benezia replied after a moment. "I cannot rely on your observations alone for this, I'm afraid. I fear that there is a lot more subtext to each of their actions that would take decades to fully understand. And the generational clash… fascinating. I'm sure Aethya would love this. As to the Blood Dragons, we cannot pick a side in their war. The fact that they support us though… I think is a sign that we can operate in Kusari without much criminal interference."

"Finally, there is Liberty. Very friendly, and certainly the most outspoken of the Houses. They aren't afraid to show outward emotion in and out of work from what I hear. Certainly the most prosperous of the Houses, they own the most habitable planets and the most influential companies. Interestingly enough though, they are very dependent on raw resource imports, having mined out most of the easily accessible deposits. This has led to a decline in their manufacturing, and a dearth of unemployed workers, which has in turn led to the Liberty Rogues, a collection of criminals that turn to crime for, well… survival. No political motives, just survival, and maybe occasionally getting rich."

"Just skilled pilots and workers who need a job and a living?" Benezia asked.

"As far as I understand it yes, though President Wallace claims that they will not be a problem for long."

"Then we merely need to provide opportunities for these workers, and they'll leave their criminal backgrounds for some very well paid jobs, then." Benezia replied confidently. "Unlike the more political criminals, I think that if we can offer them a chance to a decent living without any risk on their part, we will have ourselves a decent inroad to advancing our technological base."

Aela let her mind process that for a bit. It sounded good on paper, but… humans were still a wildcard. She wasn't sure if enough would take the offer. "It might work, but I cannot guarantee it, Matriarch." she replied. "There are just two more factions that I would like to point out, though."

"Please go on. I'm sure you'd only mention them if you thought it important." Benezia replied.

"The two largest and most powerful criminal factions in the Sirius sector are the Outcasts and Corsairs." Aela continued. "Here things get vague. No one knows where they come from at all. All anyone knows is that they are to be feared, as they are the most ruthless and cunning of the criminal factions in the Sirius, and that they are Human. The Outcasts are the primary source of the mystery drug Cardamine, which has an absurd addiction rate. It provides an incredibly powerful and near instantaneous high with absolutely no chance for the body to build up a tolerance for it. Long term use leads to permanent genetic damage, though no one knows how it can do that. Humans can build up a huge dependency on the drug and I'm told that extreme long term users die if they don't get their fix. I'm unsure how it would react to Asari biology, but it is not something I would like to find out. They have managed to feed every House this drug through the use of intermediaries, and no one knows how they make it, or even where it comes from. They are very rich, have some of the most skilled pilots, and some decently developed homebrewed weapons."

"I'm interested in this Cardamine," Benezia started. "It sounds too good to be a natural drug. I'm thinking that they are somehow producing it chemically, though I admit I am not familiar enough with medicine to reach reliable conclusions. How much of a problem is Cardamine in the Sirius sector, though?"

"To my knowledge," Aela replied. "It's most problematic in Liberty, especially in Manhattan. Many young men and women are attracted to its high and from what I understand some are willing to kill for their next fix. Rhineland would be next I guess, but only in New Berlin. It has a lot of traction in its numerous nightclubs, and as usual the youth are particularly attracted to it. Bretonnia's usage of the drug is much more limited, instead being available only to the very richest as far as I know. It just doesn't seem to be as popular there. Kusari on the other hand, is pretty limited in its exposure to Cardamine. Its helped that as far as I know, none of the local criminals want to even associate themselves with the drug. Its sale and use seems to be restricted to the expat stations in the nation, and even then only with the youth. The older ones practically abhor it."

"I think it's a drug that deserves observation." Benezia continued. "If the humans have treated it this illegally, then I think we should give it at least some amount caution. The people who sell this drug are dangerous, and we don't even know where they come from."

"In that I agree." Aela replied. "Now, on to the last group." 

"The Corsairs are ruthless pilots, with some very impressive ships and weaponry that compliments their reputation as excellent pilots. They strike at nearly everyone for any kind of supplies, from food to complicated machine parts. This suggests that wherever they come from it's a harsh world or, more likely, they don't even have one and survive in some space station in some unknown system. Either way, they must lack in raw resources and probably even arable land, hence the need to resort to piracy. It would also likely instill a very survival first culture, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were raised to be pirates"

"How do they get to the House systems, though? I assume that the Houses lock their gates to these pirates to prevent them from accessing their systems." Benezia inquired. 

"Perkins has recently informed me of a natural phenomenon called Jump Holes, natural Jump Gates of sorts. Criminals of all sorts make use of them to travel between systems, but they are difficult to find. Often, they are located within particularly difficult terrain like nebulae or asteroid fields." 

"So they have means of finding traversable wormholes?" Benezia asked.

"I assume yes, though Ageira highly discourages their use. They say that they are quite dangerous and do not guarantee safety when travelling through them." Aela replied. 

"It just means that there is hope yet for us. We can quite possibly recreate the human Jump Gates without Aegira. "Benezia replied, radiating that wave of sureness that only a Matriarch of her standing could achieve. "Though if Perkins knows about these Jump Holes, then Bretonnia must know of them. And if Bretonnia knows of them, then I'm sure the other Houses do as well. I wonder why they haven't figured out how to make their own Jump Gates yet?" 

"I don't know, Matriarch." Aela replied. " But I do hope that where the other Houses failed, we will succeed. I do think that is everything you need to know. Do you have any other questions?"

"None for now, Dr. D'Avo." Benezia replied. "I will contact you if I need anything." 

"Thank you, Matriarch." said Aela as she bowed and made her way back to her room. This wasn't as bad as she thought. Matriarch Benezia looked like she would know how to handle the situation in the talks later, as if she was merely going to visit Tevos on the Citadel. That surely had to be a good sign, right?


	21. Chapter 21

St Kitt's Plaza Hotel  
Planet Curacao, Cortez system

This was it. This was going to be the day where Humans and the Citadel began their first steps together toward what Benezia hoped would be a brighter future. She would be the last to enter with her entourage and Dr. D'Avo into the meeting room where the discussions would start. 

"Any final comments before we go in, Dr. D'Avo?" Benezia asked as they stood outside the door to the meeting room. 

Dr.D'Avo furrowed her eyes in thought. "Keep an eye out on how the House representatives react to each other. I think that will give us a better understanding of the relationships between the Houses." 

"An excellent suggestion." Benezia replied. D'Avo had more talent for this than she gave herself credit for. Shame she was more interested in Xenoarchaeology, but that had its own advantages. 

She'd make a good mentor for her Little Wing, Liara.

"I think it's time we made history, Dr. D'Avo," Benezia said with a smile as she opened the door and stepped into the room.

Well, it was clear that whoever built the hotel had a lot of Bretonnian influence. Plenty of paneling made from dark, almost cherry coloured wood, and scarlet chairs. Yet there was also enough hints of modernity in the projector and lighting to know that this wasn't some ancient pre-spaceflight civilization room.

She also got a good look at the representatives of each of the Houses, each in their own respective corners. King Alexander himself was here, representing Bretonnia along with his cousin Lord Barstow. They were sitting in one corner of the table, sipping some tea in some delicate looking porcelain cups, looking like there wasn't anything to worry about. 

Then there were the Libertonians. President Wallace was sitting down on his corner, dressed sharply in a finely tailored suit. He was looking particularly intense, as he continually reviewed what Benezia suspected were his notes in his own console. She honestly couldn't blame him. the future of his nation was on the line, and it was best that he prepare as much as possible.

The Rhinelanders, meanwhile, were represented by the Chancellor, Erik Reinhardt. Dressed in brilliant greens and golds that only seemed to accentuate his hawkish features, the man was basically glaring at the Kusari delegation, as if they were the source of all their problems. It was one that reminded Benezia a lot of what happens when you put a Krogan with a Salarian in the same room, and the Krogan managed to restrain himself enough to not kill the Salarian. Which to be fair to both, was… relatively true, at least based on what she managed to learn about the 80 Years war.

Which wasn't to say that the Kusari themselves weren't giving the Rhinelanders a hostile look either. The fact that these people, who prized their emotional control were giving openly hostile looks onto the Rhinelanders told Benezia quite a bit. Unlike the other Houses, the head of state wasn't here to represent Kusari; rather it was one of his most senior lords and advisors, one Lord Oda. Dressed in elaborate looking crimson and orange robes, the man was a mystery to Benezia and Dr. D'Avo. Dr. D'Avo had never met the man before, and was unlikely to be of much help. All Benezia had on him was a general framework on how the older Kusari thought.

She frowned internally, careful to keep her face as friendly and open as possible. This was the kind of problem that took years of hard work and effort on both sides to achieve anything close to an understanding. Even today, the Krogan held a deep seated grudge against many Salarians and Turians. 

This… would take time. Best get started then.

"Gentlemen," Benezia started. "I am glad to see that you have all arrived to talk about our futures together." 

"As civilized peoples, talking should always be our preferred solution, no?" Lord Oda started. "Let us begin. I Lord Oda Shinji, represent the Kusari Empire, and his eminence, the honourable Shogun Matsumoto." 

"I Chancellor Erik Reinhardt represent the Federal Republic of Rhineland, and all its citizens."

"I King Alexander The First of the House of Windsor am here to represent the Kingdom of Bretonnia."

"And I am President Richard Wallace, representing the Republic of Liberty. And I for one, am very happy that we are all here and peaceably talking about this like properly civilized people," Wallace replied. "But I think the most important and glaring issue, for all of us, is how do we get to your end of space? I mean, the Tau 30 system's a dead end, and our more… conventional FTL takes forever to get anywhere beyond a system. I think this is something we all need to discuss immediately."

"We have developed our own faster form of FTL, with which I'm sure we can arrange a suitable trade for. This will in turn, allow us to… lead you to our own Jump Gate equivalents. The Mass Relays."

"Hold on. Jump Gate equivalents?" Wallace said, clearly trying to mask his worry, as the other delegates turned their full attention onto Benezia. "Just how far can one of these take you?"

"Mass Relays can vary in the distances travelled. Some can take you from one point of the galaxy to the next. Others though can only take you from one system to another nearby system." Benezia replied. "The nearest Mass Relay is a few systems away from your Tau 30 system." 

"So you're just going to go ahead and build one in the Tau 30 system to help facilitate trade, then?" Wallace replied, his voice now neutral.

Damn. Benezia hoped that wouldn't come up. "Unfortunately, we are unable to build any more Mass Relays. They were built long ago by an older race we call the Protheans. We have so far been unable to replicate their grasp of the technology to build a new functioning Mass Relay. We are essentially building along where their empire was." Benezia replied carefully. 

"I see." Wallace replied, a smile forming on his lips. It was clear to him that once again, Liberty had something that everyone wants, and who could blame him? They had the means to make travel between systems last minutes instead of days. "How can Liberty be of service to the galaxy, ma'am?" He replied after a moment of silence, a wry smile on his face, like a shark smelling blood in the water.

"I believe it best that we talk about integration first," Benezia countered, deflecting the question. "It is clear to me that it would be to the benefit of all if you all joined the Citadel community. Joining it opens many avenues, including trade between our peoples." she replied, hoping to win them over with that bait. 

"How are we to trade if we cannot get to your systems?" Reinhardt asked. "It would be unfair and one-sided to have you all come to us without our own businesses being able to send their wares to you via our own services. Our own freight system could be starved out."

"I'm sure that a suitable tariff system by your own people could help keep your own rates competitive while we try and perform some… integration of our technological bases." Benezia suggested. "Though I must say that the exchange of technology would have to be… equal, as I am sure you know. " 

"While we would be delighted to trade our technology with you, I'm afraid that even as Head of State, there are simply some things we cannot quite simply share with you immediately." King Alexander replied apologetically. "Not only are we clearly operating on a different technological base from your own, we have our own classified items that we cannot simply share with anyone immediately, no matter how much we want to. These sort of things require some time before we can provide what you seek." 

"I understand," Benezia replied. It was a little much to hope for that they would offer anything military or police grade that this soon in the relationship, and besides they had a point. They would be working from the ground up in regards to these weapons. There was no guaranteed way they would even be able to generate enough energy to make use of the weapons effectively. "I was talking more along the line of say... your material sciences, energy generation, and this SynthPaste I hear about." 

"SynthPaste, like many Libertonian products are a patented product of one of our companies, in this case, SynthFoods Inc., and as such cannot be traded or manufactured without due licensing." Wallace replied. "If you are interested in producing said product, you will have to talk to their company reps." 

"The material sciences and energy generation, on the other hand," Reinhardt replied, "Is something we Houses will have to discuss at a later date. Understand that while we are interested in joining the community, we feel it best if we… keep some things to ourselves first. We are… unsure as to what kind of community we are getting into and we are not quite yet prepared to trust our people's lives with you by giving all of our secrets. Although… I think we can all agree that giving our basics would be harmless enough. Making sure that we are all on the right path to understanding the world around us would be essential in making sure our joint efforts go smoothly. Though we are far more interested in hearing your end. What do you have to offer us in terms of technological trade?" 

"Indeed I must ask this on behalf of my Shogun." Lord Oda inquired. " While my Rhinelander... counterpart and I may disagree on many things, we must know that the deal is not one sided. What can you provide that would in turn, help us mutually benefit from this… new relationship we are to enter?"

"Computers for one thing," Benezia started. "Based on what we have observed so far, while your computers are effective enough, we feel that in time we can certainly improve them to much better standards. You would be surprised at just how much our own computers are capable of. In fact, it is indeed quite possible, though very illegal, to create fully sapient AIs." 

That elicited a stir among the House representatives, as they quietly began to converse amongst themselves and their entourages.

"That would indeed be a great deal of interest to us." Wallace responded. "While we do have our own robotic servants, they are not very… efficient, or at least on the level we desire. They are good enough for performing menial tasks and as automated help. Having them be a little more… flexible would be useful"

"Of course, there is one piece of technology that I would have to share with you to even begin real integration of our systems. And it is all centered on this element." Benezia replied as she put the image of element zero on the display. 

"This is Element Zero." she started. "It has several unique properties, most notably its ability to affect mass when a current passes through it. It can make things either more or less massive, and as I am sure you can imagine, that opens up a world of possibilities."

One of Reinhardt's advisors was hurriedly whispering into his ear. Perhaps they had encountered it before? 

"I am told by my advisors that we have encountered that element before, though we have never been able to appropriate enough to truly experiment with it. It has, so far, been found only in the Omega 11 system, and only in the deepest and most dangerous parts of the Van Rohe belt, and even then, only in miniscule amounts."

"Is it by any chance a system that has recently gone into supernova?" Benezia asked. That would be the most common location for eezo to be found.

"We suspect that it will go supernova within a few centuries." Reinhardt replied after a brief talk with his advisor.

That was another thing to add to the list of things to ask for. The opportunity to study what sounded like was the natural formation of eezo was something no scientist had encountered so far. However, it might be best to talk about it at a later date.

"That is quite fascinating. I am sure that many of our scientists would love to have access to the system to observe the phenomena occurring there," Benezia replied. "Which in turn brings me to the next point of discussion: accessing territory. Many of our companies would love to trade their goods and services to the Sirius sector, and many Citadel citizens would love to explore the Sirius systems."

"We have no problems with people visiting our systems," Reinhardt replied. "I'm sure all but Kusari would agree to that."

"I must ask that for the purposes of tourism, your citizens will have to ask for a visa at a… future Kusari embassy." Oda continued, scowling at Reinhardt while doing so. "The details we will, I am sure, discuss at a later point. For trade however… that is something I cannot discuss just yet. I will need to confer with my Shogun about this, for he gave me explicit instructions regarding this particular situation."

"Though, this leads to another sort of topic I am very sure all of my colleagues here are quite interested in." Oda continued. "That of, what I assume to be unexplored and unclaimed territory. " Nods of approval came from all the representatives, even a grudging one from Reinhardt.

This was a landmine that Benezia honestly wished to avoid. However, there was no way of avoiding it now that Oda had aired it. "Allow me to bring up a map, then."

Benezia quickly brought out a image of the galaxy, and put it up on display. "This here, as I am sure you are aware, is a map of the galaxy." She then highlighted a small dot on the map. "This highlighted area is the Sirius sector. You are currently located on the edge of an area of space we call the Attican Traverse," here Benezia highlighted a good portion of the galaxy, relatively close to the galactic center. "It is a mostly unclaimed sector of space, though it has been explored a bit, mostly by the Batarians. The reason why it is unclaimed is that as you will soon see, it is quite distant from most of the other claimed sectors of space," she said as she began highlighting Asari, Turian, Salarian and other Citadel species space.

"As you can also see, we have only explored at most, a mere 1% of the galaxy," she said as the scattered dots even smaller than the Sirius sector connected only by the tiniest trails, became more clear. "This is due to the limitations of our FTL drive. It has its own range issues, and one can only explore so far from a Mass Relay or established bases. The nearest relay to the Sirius Sector is in what I believe you call the Armstrong Nebula. From here, you should be able to launch your own expeditions throughout the Traverse and begin your own colonization programs. I'm sure your own people can… negotiate how to best distribute any claimed systems among yourselves."

"While we agree in principle, the reality is that we are going to have arguments over competing claims sooner or later." Wallace replied. "To squabble over new accessible systems can only lead to war. We require an… impartial third party to help listen to our cases for any future disputed claims that we Houses will have against each other. We were hoping that your Citadel council could act as a court of sorts, where they can justly distribute the system to whoever has the better claim, in case of dispute. Otherwise, we have agreed to a… buffer system similar to what we have established here in the Sirius Sector." 

"A fair statement, and one that I think would be best for… the stability of all involved parties." Benezia replied. She was glad that despite their squabbling, they were still hesitant about going to open war among themselves, which was, she hoped, an excellent sign of maturity in this race. "I am sure that the Council will be able to provide a fair judgement on each of your future cases." 

"It is all we ask for in regards to that," Wallace responded. 

'Now on to the topic of embassies," Benezia started. "You Humans will be a unique addition to the Presidium on the Citadel. I have been authorized to grant you all an embassy for each of your Houses on board the station. Who you assign to represent your interests, of course, lies with you." 

"Excellent," Wallace replied. "This sounds like as good a time as any to take a recess so that we can process all that we have talked about so far. We can go discuss… technicalities and details after the break."

"I second the motion." Lord Oda followed.

"Agreed." King Alexander responded.

"I concur." Reinhardt replied.

"Seeing as we are all in agreement then,' Benezia said as she stood up. "Let us adjourn this meeting and continue to talk about our futures together later."

She would definitely need some time to work out proper details. This would be a lot more difficult than she thought. While clear in their… disagreements, the fact that they agreed to certain policies made her think that maybe it wouldn't be as easy as she thought to use diplomacy as a wedge between them. 

She was definitely going to go home with news that will rattle a few heads.


	22. Chapter 22

Hotel St Kitts Planet Curacao  
Cortez system

"So, how did it go?" Perkins asked Aela in that cheeky tone of his while he sipped some tea, as Aela practically collapsed onto her bed.

"Better than I'd feared, worse than I'd hoped." Aela responded, her voice muffled as her face was buried in pillows. "The delegates weren't tearing each other apart, and instead surprisingly enough, put up a united front of sorts."

"Are you saying that the Rhinelanders and Kusari agreed on something?" Perkins asked disbelievingly.

"Somehow yes." Aela replied. "All the Houses have agreed to a limited form of trading with the Citadel while they figure out the details. They also agreed to having the Citadel act as a judge for any claim disputes over future colonization rights."

"Hell must have frozen over, because I never thought I'd hear Kusari and Rhineland agree to… well, anything aside from hating each other." Perkins replied. "Best dress warmly then."

"What?" Aela asked, raising her head out of her pillowy fortress of softness. Once again, Perkins was acting… Bretonnian.

"Never mind. Nothing to fear," he replied jovially. "I take it, then, that talks will continue peaceably?"

"From the looks of it, yes." Aela replied. "The groundwork for the full treaties has been laid down already. From here, it's all fine details, and as such, Benezia has effectively dismissed me. I've served the Citadel well, and quote 'deserve the break'."

"Good," Perkins cheerily replied. "What say you then to us hitching a ride aboard one of your posh looking cruisers when they head back to that Citadel space of yours?"

"I don't see why not. You are, after all, working for me now." she replied as she returned back into her pillows.

"Ah yes. A bodyguard in space that gets to do odd jobs while you're off digging holes in the ground. I don't see why I didn't become a freelancer earlier honestly," Perkins replied deadpan.

"A little more snark, and I'll make sure to neglect to tell you all about the other alien races." Aela snarked back.

"I imagine it can only go as swimmingly as our last first contact." Perkins replied, his trademark grin forming in Aela's head again. "When is this Lady Benezia leaving, then?"

"A few days, and then they will make best speed for the Citadel, where we will be dropped off." Aela answered.

"And when is your next dig? I can't imagine you have one scheduled so soon. Surely you didn't plan for all this meeting new aliens, did you?" he cheekily asked.

"A few months, actually. Which is really enough time for me to spend some good quality time with my apartment on Thessia."

"A planet full of intelligent blue ladies that fling out strange powers beyond the ken of mortals like me." Perkins replied in a… strangely different accent. "Aye, my ancestors somewhere would've warned me of joinin' the fair folk."

"Are you… joking?" Aela asked seriously. There were some times she really had to ask with situations like this.

"Nay" he continued. "Really though, my… well bleeding ancient Ancestors, you folk qualify for something they called the Fae. Weirdly beautiful, very… effeminate, mysterious and you definitely have powers that we younglings do not have."

As an archaeologist that fascinated her. The mythologies of peoples long past helped get into the mindset of them at the time, and it certainly helped with the understanding of their descendants, even if only a tiny bit.

"That actually sound interesting. I'd like to get a copy of some of the stories before leaving." Aela replied.

"Just grab it from the Neural Net. Search for Fae, and Celtic myth. I'm sure you'll be fascinated by it." Perkins answered back as he headed out. "I'm going to ask around, see what I can legally bring when going to the Citadel."

"Why?" she asked suspiciously. This sounded like a crazy human plan brewing.

"If there is anything Liberty has taught the rest of the Houses, its that there is always an opportunity for profit. You just have to grab onto it with both hands and never let go." he finished as he left the room.

* * *

Aboard the Nalia  
In Orbit of Planet Curacao, Cortez system

"You know, your ships certainly are as posh as they look from the outside." Perkins said as he strolled down the chromed corridor with Aela towards their quarters. "Kind of makes me think our own ships are ugly in comparison."

"Beauty is relative." Aela replied back. "Personally, I find it a little too clean and utilitarian on the inside. The exterior is more like what I'm used to back home on Thessia." Everything aboard had some clear purpose

"Like those pictures you showed me of that planet. Ilium, was it?" Perkins asked

"Not quite. Ilium is more like a fusion of Asari with all the other cultures that go there. It's our melting pot of cultures from all over Citadel space. Thessia is our homeworld, the center of Asari culture." she explained.

"Makes sense. Cultures are affected by other cultures, and they slowly pick up bits the other side likes." Perkins said as they turned the corner. "I'd rather expect that in a few years time, Human culture will be making an impact on Citadel culture. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Immortal Bard gracing the theatre."

"A famous playwright of sorts, then?" Aela asked.

"Everyone in Bretonnia and Liberty knows at least one of his plays. For centuries, we've been taught the plays and his works as kids. His work was years ahead of his time, and certainly still affects modern storytelling… Or at least, thats what Thatch kept telling me. He was a great fan of his work, and he admitted to me that if it weren't for his love for flying, his passion for theatre would've led him to the stage."

"Is it too late to grab him on your Neural Net, then?" she asked him as they entered their room.

"I'll grab it for you. I can still access mine." he replied. "And quite a lovely flat here if I do say so myself."

"This one's ours." she replied. The small room was rather spartan, containing only a terminal to access the Extranet, a bunkbed and a small closet. "Would you prefer top or-"

"Top please." Perkins quickly interrupted. "And done. I've got copies for you."

"Wait, how'd you do that?" she asked.

"Remember those cybernetic implants I told you about? Well, nearly everyone has them in the Sirius sector. And they let me access the Neural Net along with access to some of the other functions on my flight helmet's HUD. So when someone says they'll upload it to my Neural Net, they quite literally meant uploading it to my account. I've got my creds, ID, license and all right here," he said as he patted his head.

"While nice, I don't know how I'm going to be able to pick up a copy." Aela gently retorted. That was certainly very useful and likely would become a lot more widespread throughout Citadel space soon.

"I'm thinking a long convoluted process of me uploading it to my ship's database and then you picking it up from there." Perkins countered.

"That would work…" Aela replied, a little embarrassed.

"No sweat. Lets just relax and enjoy the sights before we leave. I'm personally excited to see what's going on in that Citadel space of yours."

"Its… nothing like what I've seen here in the Sirius sector, that's for sure." Aela replied. "Though I have to ask, what do you plan on doing with those ship components you were loading onto your fighter? And where did you get them in the first place? I can't imagine Curacao has anything resembling a factory here."

"Firstly, like any good Freelancer (or so the vids tell me), I plan on selling them to the highest bidder. Secondly, I grabbed them from another Freelancer who had docked here. She barely escaped an Outcast attack and took refuge here. Paid her good money for most of her cargo, easily a lot more than what she'd get if she were to go all the way to Baltimore." Perkins confidently replied.

"So, just how do you plan on selling all of it? Go to the first person who would buy it then leave?" Aela replied deadpan.

"Actually, my plan involved a lot of hunting around for interested parties, and then seeing which of them is least likely to shoot me for selling to a competitor, but your way sounds like less work and a lot more likely to leave with me not as an enemy of a corp." Perkins replied.

"What." was all Aela said.

"I mean, I know that if I were selling stuff to Kishiro instead of Samura, they might be tempted to sic an accident my way if the haul was lucrative enough, and with this, well… I imagine your people can't be too different." Perkins continued as he climbed to the top bunk.

"I assure you that no corporation would ever act like that, Perkins." Aela honestly replied.

"Yeah, and I'm the man who knows how to shield a Battleship." he replied deadpan. "I'll believe it when I see it, Aela. Meanwhile I'm just going to nap for a bit. Wake me up when we go FTL. I'd love to see yours in action."

"Alright." Aela replied. She could understand Perkins' level of distrust really. After everything she'd learned about Human cultures, she couldn't blame him. Still though, there was no way that Citadel corporations would act like that. That was the way of the Terminus systems, and that sort of shadow war was not something that the Citadel tolerated.

* * *

Tau 30 system  
Aboard the Nalia

"Wake up," Aela said to Perkins as they finally arrived at the Tau 30 system.

"Eh? We're here already?" Perkins blearily replied as he slowly got up from his bunk. "Are we entering FTL soon?"

"In a few minutes. They just need to clear the asteroid belt." Aela replied as she slowly stood up from her desk. "Come on, let's head to the observation deck. I think you'll enjoy the view there."

"Righto," Perkins cheerily replied as he leapt off his bed and onto the floor. "Lead the way."

Aela smiled a bit and walked out, following the signs that directed her towards the Nalia's port observation deck.

Normally, such decks with large windows were considered liabilities in most ships, but the Nalia was created originally as a science/exploration vessel, and as such was deemed necessary enough to have one. It was only assigned to the fleet because of the relative unknown nature of the Sirius sector, and the Human FTL via the Jump Gates. Simply entering the Sirius sector had been an absolute first in Citadel history in entering a wormhole. Unfortunately, the Nalia was unable to pick up any new data from going through the Human Jump Gates. It did however, pick up a lot of interesting readings of the scrap fields they passed by in the New London system, and a lot of disturbing ones from the Leeds system.

"Aela," Perkins said as he quickly moved up by her. "I hate being so blunt all about this, but are there no unattractive members of your species? In my short time among your people, which is all of a few days, I've spotted no uncomely member of the species, and if this any indication of the Asari standard of beauty, there are going to be a looot of jealous and wrathful, and maybe a tad bit confused women back home."

"I'm not quite sure what you mean." Aela replied. "I mean, we Asari have a reputation for beauty in Citadel space, but I'm not sure why we'd cause a lot of jealousy and confusion."

"Let me put it this way, Aela," Perkins said as they quickly approached the observation deck. "Would you say you're an average-looking member of your species?"

"On the whole, yes." She certainly wasn't as pretty as her mother, or some of her colleagues at the University, but she was pretty enough or at least she liked to think so.

"Then, by God I hope to see a beautiful Asari woman one day, because frankly, amongst many of my peers, I'm sure they would find you very attractive. I myself do find you attractive but I have enough professionalism in me to keep our relationship strictly friendly, but by God, I've seen a few supermodels on the Neural Net, and the lot of you equal them."

"I suspect that's mostly due to our very similar external biology, Perkins." Aela commented as they entered the observation deck, where a few other crewmembers were also sitting. "For us Asari, you humans are practically Asari with little tufts of hair and unusual skin tones, along with a male sex. Your women have a sort of… taboo attractiveness to them."

"Taboo?" Perkins asked.

"It's… become a stigma among Asari to be the child of two Asari." Aela replied awkwardly.

"What? Isn't that, you know, natural?" Perkins incredulously asked.

"I have told you that Asari can reproduce with any species, yes?" Aela asked.

"I think so, though you never explained how."

"It's rather more complicated than what I'll tell you, but the simple version as far as I understand is that when we Asari meld, we use our partner's DNA as a basic randomizer to our own DNA to create a new Asari child."

"As a result, ever since first contact with other species and our discovery that we can reproduce with them, it has been seen in Asari culture to be more beneficial to go and find your partner among other species rather than another Asari. Purebloods, or Asari that are the product of a pure Asari partnership are... frowned upon in Asari society."

"Huh…" Perkins said as he stared out into space and the gradually shrinking number of asteroids. "Definitely different from what Human culture underwent for… well, a long time"

"We should be entering FTL in a bit though. Best get comfortable and enjoy the view."

"All right then." he said as he settled himself onto a chair right in front of the window. "I look forward to the-woah" he said as the ship just jumped.

Blue streaks of light, not too dissimilar from what happens when one goes into a Trade lane, were all Aela and Perkins could see for ages. They just seemed to streak on and on forever.

"Wow." Perkins said. "That is quite a sight right there."

"Wait 'till you see a Mass Relay in action. We should be there in a few weeks' time "

"That's a lot faster than anything we have back home." Perkins said he stood up. "Its nice to know that we're standing on new ground, seeing the unknown, and facing new things. It's all rather exciting for me, really. Never really expected this when I first signed up in the Bretonnian Armed Forces, you know?"

"And I never expected to become an ambassador of sorts when I became an xenoarchaeologist, Perkins." Aela retorted. "The galaxy takes us all to strange and wonderful places."

"I can only look forward to the future at this rate, Aela." Perkins replied.

"As can I." Aela said as they continued to stare out into space while they sped on further and further away from the Sirius sector.

* * *

Armstrong Nebula Mass Relay  
Armstrong Nebula

"I wasn't expecting something like this you know," Perkins said to Aela as they both stared at the Mass Relay in the Nalia's observation deck.

"Were you expecting something like your own Jump Gates?" Aela asked.

"Yeah, but on a more massive scale." he said. "Don't get me wrong, it is huge, easily larger than a Jump Gate, but… a tuning fork? Really?"

Said 'tuning fork' was right outside, its distinctive blue glow at the center, where the 'tongs' met, showing it was an active relay. It was massive, at over 15 kilometers long. It was certainly a testament to the skill of its Prothean builders that something of its sheer size and complexity was still working after over 50,000 years.

"Like I said, we didn't build it. Though I think you'll see why we think it was built like a 'tuning fork' soon enough," she replied as the ship gradually approached the relay.

"It certainly looks like something you folks would build. It has all the things I've come to notice in anything Asari. Curvy, shiny and lots of blue," Perkins replied, another of his grins on his face.

"Like how Humans have a distinct tendency to go for big and blocky?" she countered.

"With a general ability to spring a surprise or two if I may add." Perkins replied.

"I guess…" she mumbled.

"Should that Mass Relay of yours be doing… that?" Perkins suddenly said as he pointed out the window towards the Relay as the blue eezo core throbbed with power.

"Yep. Enjoy the ride." she said. The energy in the center gradually built up as the ship approached until, in a blinding flash, the ship shot along the relay like a bullet. One moment they were in the Armstrong Nebula, the next they were in the Attican Beta system.

"Huh". Perkins said as the ship slowly drifted away from the relay. He could hear the crew scuttling around as they checked for what he imagined to be drift and any nearby traffic. "I'll be. It's more of a gun than a tuning fork, and we were the bullet."

"Essentially, yes." Aela replied. This was her world, and she was a lot more used to things this way, the nice and reliable Prothean Mass Relays.

It'd be nice to play tour guide to Perkins instead of the other way around.


	23. Chapter 23

AN: At this point, the story is roughly on par with the Spacebattles version. Criticism is always welcome.

_Neural Net Update_

_The Citadel_

_Class: [Unknown]_  
_Gravity: Complete (1.03 G in Wards, 1.02 in Presidium)_  
_Amenities: Complete_  
_Population: 13.2 Million_

_Ships for Sale: Athabasca class Freighter_  
_Commodities for Sale: Light Arms, Security Mechs, Engine Components_  
_Commodities Buying: Food, Water, SynthPaste, Eezo, Ship Hull Panels (Sirius)_  
_Weapons for Sale: Unknown (Compiling)_

_The Citadel is the beating heart of Citadel Space. Lying in the middle of the Serpent Nebula, the Citadel was a natural location to set up the center of Citadel governance, due to it's proximity to many nearby Mass Relays that connect the Citadel to the rest of the Galaxy. Built by the mysterious Protheans 50,000 years ago (Citadel Standard), it has since become the witness and catalyst to many a historic event, from the Rachni Wars to the Curacao Convention._

The Presidium, The Citadel  
Serpent Nebula

If there was one word Perkins would use to describe the Presidium, it would have to be 'shiny'. Seriously, whoever these Protheans were, they sure loved their chrome.

"Don't you guys, you know, ever consider painting over all this chrome?" Perkins asked offhandedly as he and Aela slowly made their way to the Council chambers. "I mean, let's face it, with this much chrome, someone is going to be blinded by a flash of light one day, and that cannot be healthy."

"The Citadel itself is over 50,000 years old and certainly the greatest relic the Protheans had left us before they mysteriously disappeared." Aela said as she paused in front of Perkins. Since they were officially going to go meet the Council, she was wearing one of her fancy Asari dresses, while Perkins himself was all spick and span in his dress uniform. Even though he was a civie now, it was still the most formal outfit he could get his hands on. "It's practically the center of known galactic culture, and you're suggesting we paint it a different color."

"I'm just saying that it seems to me to be a potential safety hazard." Perkins said nonchalantly as he went on towards what he presumed to be the Council chambers.

"Right," Aela said, deciding to let the issue drop as they continued on their way through the Citadel. In all honesty, Perkins had so far reacted to a lot of what he was seeing pretty well. While she and Perkins tagged along with the representatives of Bretonia, Liberty, and Rhineland early on, mostly past a few landmark views, good meals, etcetera, the two of them elected to break away from the group and let them engage in the politics. Perkins did want to rejoin the representatives when they would officially be meeting some of the other races though, and she couldn't blame him. The man hit off splendidly with the Turian meet up, likely because the Turian in particular was a former pilot, and the Salarian went along well enough, with Perkins and the other Sirius representatives answering the questions good naturedly.

"Now that we're away from the Sirius representatives. Care to give your opinion of them?" Aela asked Perkins. As a Sirius native, he had to have a better feel for them than she did.

"I've got to say that picking Princess Yvette to represent His Majesty was an... interesting choice." Perkins said. "I mean, she's his sister, and while she's supremely qualified, seeing as she's an expert anthropologist from Cambridge, she's a Princess. I can't help but think that it's a little too early to be displaying that level of trust with your people, no offence."

"None taken, and I can't say I disagree. Relations between the Citadel and the Sirius Houses haven't even been established for a full year. Perhaps he just wants to show trust on his part?" Aela commented.

"Maybe. I can't say for sure I know what's going on there." Perkins went on as they approached a stall selling some Asari nut cakes.

"Do you want anything?" Aela asked Perkins.

"No thanks. I'm fine enjoying the view." he said as he looked out over the small lake and towards the Krogan Monument.

Aela simply shrugged and grabbed one of the tasty cakes for herself. The sweet nuttyness reminded her a little bit more of home. "What about the Rhineland representative? That… Herr Moltke, I think?" she asked.

"Bit stiff, hear he's got nob blood in him, but seeing as he was… an illegitimate child, ended up carrying his commoner mother's name. Didn't let that stop him from rising in position within the Rhineland Military as one of Rhineland's premier pilots before retiring. He's got over a 100 kills under his name he does, but real bright too. Heard he set the Rhineland standard for most fighter engagements today with his innovative tactics, and he studied military history in the academy too. Otherwise, he seems like your typical Rhinelander in attitude, but I haven't had the real pleasure of getting to know him personally."

"So, we've got a military observer then here?" Aela asked. "Why do you think they'd send someone with that much war experience?"

"Mostly because I think they're worried about pirates. Rhinelanders have enough criminals and revolutionaries to deal with." Perkins commented as he looked around and absorbed the view. "Makes sense they'd send someone along to see if you Citadel folk have similar problems. I mean, no offence, but it's one thing to say it, it's another thing altogether to see it."

"None taken." Aela replied as she finished her cake. "And what of the Libertonian rep then, Mr. Perry?"

"Definitely corporate. Clean suit, shiny smile, slick hair. Could've pulled him straight out of a movie," Perkins replied a little distastefully. "Hear he used to work for Interspace Commerce, so he's got some of the finest financial training in the Sirius sector. A very Libertonian move to check the proverbial waters. They have the money, and they're interested in investing. As a person though, he seems okay enough. Quite friendly and he's an interesting conversationalist. He used to pilot a few escort runs with a few Universal Shipping convoys for his… thrills before he got promoted. I can't help but feel like he has an underlying motive whenever I'm around him, though."

"A person to keep an eye out if anything then." Aela replied as she stared out over the Presidium. How much of it will change now that the humans are here? The last time there was a major change was when the Quarians all left for their Migrant Fleet. Gone were their arts and wares, but at least the occasional one still visited, trying to earn a living so that they may return to their home with something worthwhile..

"I wonder how'd the Kusari would've reacted to all this." Aela mused out loud. "You and the other humans looked pretty appreciative of the aesthetic. Aside from your comment on chrome that is."

"Dunno. I haven't got a real good grasp of them really. I imagine they'd be real quiet about it though…" Perkins replied as he stared out towards the lake.

Aela herself basked in the general familiarity of the situation. It was refreshing to be the tour guide for once, yet somehow still learning more and more about the humans. Though, the question of their homeworld still remained a mystery. She wasn't even sure if it was on the Relay network.

"I wonder what happened back on your homeworld? It's been… millennia since you left it, yes? I'm no expert, but the genetic, not to mention cultural difference between you and whoever lives on your planet now must be very different." Aela asked.

"Knowing human nature, I'm not even sure if there is a Human left on Earth. It could very well be that there are other sleeper ships of the Coalition out there as they attempted to escape a dying Earth. Could be they fought a total war for leadership or resources, and ended up destroying themselves. We'll never know unless we head there, but I think the leadership just wants to keep the past in the past. I haven't heard anything about an expedition there." Perkins replied.

"What if they come out of there, though?" she asked.

"We'll have to hope that what we have is enough then." Perkins replied as they walked away from the memorial, and made their way back to the other representatives.

Aela couldn't help but think of Perkins' insight into Human nature thought. Even after millennia, they were still expecting war to come should they meet the Coalition again.

If this was the nature of Humanity, then this did not bode well for the future...

* * *

"Perkins?" Aela asked as they walked towards an elevator that would take them to the Wards.

"Yes, Aela?"

"Why were you looking panicky when the Princess greeted the Hanar?"

"I don't know what you're talking about…" he said dismissively.

"Don't give me that tone, I know something is up. That Liberty guy, Mr. Perry looked like he just swallowed something unpleasant, while the Princess' smile looked a little too… happy," she said accusingly.

"Alright, you got me." Perkins said, slouching a bit. "Okay, word back home is that Princess Yvette was always a bit of a party girl," he said as they entered the elevator. "Even though she graduated top of her batch in Cambridge, she was notorious for hosting some of the wildest parties on the planet. Drinks and partying all night long, though drugs were never found in her parties. Everyone thought she was using Royal influence on the University for her to get that degree, but outside parties like the Hammer Institute have concluded that she's genuine. Anyways, every party of hers ended with her in bed with some guy, or occasionally gal and the tabloids just licked it up. Not that she minded."

"So when she met that Hanar bloke, and she was smiling like so, all I could picture was some… things that Kusari is notorious for exporting." Perkins finished.

"What?" she said incredulously.

"You see… Kusari is notorious for…" and here Perkins visibly struggled in finding the right word for whatever it is he was talking about. "creating… videos involving distressed women and… tentacles."

"I don't understand..." she replied. "What does this have to do with the Hanar?"

"Er…" here he continued to visibly struggle. "Rather racy videos. Involving… movements rather a lot like what you pulled off on New Berlin?"

"Oh. Ohhhh…" Now it was all clear . Disturbingly, terrifyingly clear. "Oh Goddess…"

"Yes. Which was why a lot of us were… particularly unnerved by the Princess'... enthusiasm upon meeting that Hanar ambassador, which is something you should probably keep in mind when the Kusari ambassador arrives." Perkins awkwardly responded.

"Right. Moving on…" Aela said trying to change the subject. "What did you think of the Hanar anyways? Asides from that … thing" she said as she waved her hands about.

"Honestly, I found Opold kind of preachy. Seeing as we need to be… informed of these… Enkindlers, who I understand are basically the Protheans, yes?" Perkins replied a little distastefully.

"Yes. They believe it was the Protheans who uplifted them and are responsible for their civilization." Aela replied

"I don't bloody well care who they believe in, honestly." Perkins said, the slightly venomous tone still in his voice. "So long as they remember to not dictate who I should be believing in, and I'm sure all the other Houses would react the same way."

"I'm sure he means well, Perkins." Aela said soothingly. "They are actually rather peaceful, and just want what they see is best for everyone, though they'll never force down your throat."

"Still struck me as like the worst kind of Nob. All the Snob, none of the tolerance." Perkins replied

Trying to change the subject, Aela elected for a less hostile topic "What about the Volus? What did you think about Vin?"

"If it weren't for the fact that Volus bloke, Vin Dulak or somesuch, and Perry were getting along so swimmingly, I would've found his appearance amusing. They're just so… rotund, I kind of wondered if I could've rolled him all the way down the stairs." he chuckled.

"They are the premier financial geniuses of Citadel space." she replied a little sternly. "They were the creators of the modern Galactic Credit system. Even the Terminus system makes use of the Credit system. Galactic trade on the scale we perform today wouldn't be possible without them."

"Hence why I refrained from making my amusement visible." Perkins replied seriously. "Someone like that sounds a rather lot like Liberty. They say that money talks, and I'm pretty sure you know what I mean by that."

"Are you making an analogy between the Liberty Big Three and the Volus?" she asked.

"Exactly. I'm sure somewhere somehow, the Volus are influencing the Galaxy in some manner that will benefit them." Perkins responded confidently. "No one with that amount of money can help but be pulling some sort of strings somewhere somehow."

"I don't think so," Aela responded. "They are a client state of the Turian Hierarchy, and thus more than anything have to answer to the largest military in Citadel space, and their Council status too."

"I guess…" Perkins grudgingly admitted. "You would know the situation better. You are a local. Still, something in my gut tells me the Volus are behind something big."

"And I don't think that's happening anytime soon, Perkins," she responded. "What about the Elcor then? what did you think about them?"

"Slow, old, conservative, kind of get a more welcoming Kusari feel from them honestly," Perkins said as the elevator opened up into Zakera ward. "I think they and Kusari would get along just fine, in that they wouldn't want much, if any, outside interference."

"Really? They never really struck me as particularly militant." Aela replied."How are they like Kusari in that sense?"

"I suspect they would rather concede something rather than fight over it, peace and status quo at any cost, but I digress. Where I think the Elcor would leave things be, the Kusari would fight tooth and nail for their ways, at least that's the way things look like to me," Perkins replied. "Ultimately, I think they just want things to more or less stay the same."

"Which is something that we of the Citadel have definitely tried to respect," Aela responded.

"Still not too sure how Kusari will see what will happen," Perkins replied. "So when are we heading to Thessia, eh?" Perkins suddenly asked. "I've been itching to see a totally alien world, and although our time here so far has been interesting, I really really want to see an alien world."

"We first have to figure out how to get there with that ship of yours." Aela responded." Seeing as it doesn't have what I'd call the fastest FTL around, we're going to have to find a cargo ship headed there that will take us and your fighter aboard."

"Makes sense, no way could I abandon my gal here, alone and unattended." Perkins said with a tad too much affection to be comfortable. "So I guess that's why we're here, then?"

"Yes actually. We might find a captain willing to take us on, in one of the nearby clubs." Aela responded.

"Sounds fun," Perkins responded. "Should I expect anything like what happened on Roppongi?" he asked a little teasingly.

"Nothing should happen there. We'll be in and out in under an hour trying to find a captain. I guarantee it." Aela said confidently.

* * *

The moment Aela stepped into the bar, she could immediately tell that she was going to find herself a captain somewhere among its patrons. The smell of alcohol wafted in the dim lighting of the bar one of her colleagues back on Thessia had recommended. From the entrance she could recognize a lot of spacer types. It was easy to tell really, she just had to look for the ones still in their space suits. Judging by the number she could see, they were in the right place.

Perkins walked up next to her and took a deep breath, even as more than few patrons noticeably shifted their attention towards him. "It's like I never left home," he commented with a smile.

"Come on," Aela said. "We've got to find ourselves a captain if we're going to keep that ship of yours."

"And knowing what my ship can do, I'd rather keep it close at hand thank you very much." Perkins replied defensively.

Aela decided to ignore that comment and started looking for some of her fellow asari. They were the ones most likely to be heading towards Thessia, or at the least as far as Ilium. Noticing a few at the bar, she made her way there.

"... then that Vorcha flew out of the airlock like that! Stupid guy never had a chance." exclaimed a particularly young maiden loudly.

"I swear Talia, I'm almost a hundred percent certain that your stories are made up." commented another asari, this one certainly much older looking than the young maiden. "Last time, you claimed you managed to scare a krogan into leaving you and your ship alone after 'threatening' him."

"It's true! You just have to get into the right position and threaten to tear off their plates." the maiden, Talia, replied confidently. "Scares the shit out of them to lose that, apparently."

"Yeah. Suuure." one of the other captains commented, this time a scared looking turian. "I'll believe it when I see it, Talia."

"Excuse me," Aela interrupted, hoping to disrupt things before any sort of heated argument starts. "But me and my friend are looking for passage to Thessia."

"Buy a ticket and get on one of the liners there." the Turian retorted grouchily.

"Ah, that's the problem you see…" Aela said rather awkwardly. "My friend here, Perkins is a human as I'm sure you've guessed."  
"Oooh… I like him." the maiden, Talia, said a little too aggressively. "Familiar enough to be like all those naughty naughty vids, but different enough to not be. Good thinking there, sister!"

"It's not like that at all," Aela quickly said. "We just need passage to Thessia because we have ourselves some extra large cargo that liners won't take on."

"What is it?" the turian asked. "On second thoughts, is it legal or illegal?"

"What we're transporting is my ship." Perkins replied. "A B-907A Crusader, straight from the cunning minds at the BAA Armory, and certainly one of the finest pieces of engineering of Bretonnia."

"You stole military grade equipment?!" the turian quickly said.

"Nothing like that at all!" Perkins replied. "What I have is essentially my retirement package from the Armed Forces. I'm now freelance, and my current contract is with Dr. D'Avo here."

"So why don't you just fly there yourselves, flyboy?" Talia asked.

"Current human ship FTL is vastly inferior to anything Citadel space has." Perkins replied. "At least, for now. I'm sure once Cambridge gets its hands on enough of the principles, we'll be able to compete on that level well enough."

"Alright, you've peaked my interest" Talia replied. "How big is it?"

"About 12 meters long, 4 meters tall." Perkins replied. "Kind of like a shuttle, but with significantly more firepower."

"I won't have anything to do with it," the turian commented. "Sounds exactly like the sort of thing a pirate would go after."

"I on the other hand, am interested in simply looking at the thing." Talia replied cheerily. "It just so happens that I've just completed a cargo run, and am now in need of gainful employment."

"How much?" Aela asked. Though the young maiden was a little unsettling, if she was willing to let them aboard for a reasonable fee…

"500 credits for each of you, 12,000 for the ship based on the dimensions you gave me, though I'll up it if I think I need to."

"That's reasonable." Aela replied. Certainly within her limited budget, and she wasn't going to push her luck on trying to get something cheaper. "We accept. Where will we meet you?"

"Meet me at Dock C 24. I have to tell my crew about the new passengers and cargo, so if you will excuse me," she said as she got up. "I will see you both in an hour there. When do you want to leave, though?"

"Within the day if possible, tomorrow if not." Aela replied.

"I can do today. Just need to buy food and supplies for the trip." Talia replied confidently. "I'll have you both on Thessia in a few days."

"Thank you, Captain." Aela said. "We'll meet you there promptly." Aela then turned around and made for the exit. "Come on Perkins, I know this restaurant nearby that has the best seafood this level."

Perkins hurriedly caught up to Aela. "You know, I was almost a hundred percent sure that something would happen there. My gut has never failed me on this. It didn't help that you tempted fate by stating that we wouldn't run into any trouble."

"Superstition is all that is, Perkins." Aela confidently replied. "Forgive me for being presumptuous with this, but aren't you supposed to have grown out of that since you were a soldier and all?"

"Aela, if there is one thing I'm reasonably sure is true throughout any human military is that we're some of the most superstitious people around. Death does that to people, you know?" Perkins replied in a strangely cheery manner. "It helps to take a nice humorous view to something like it. Lightens the mood significantly."

"I'm sorry." Aela apologized. "I didn't think of it that way."

"No worries. Let's just go and enjoy the restaurant you mentioned. Shall we?" Perkins said, offering his arm for her to latch on to. Aela took the proffered arm, and began to lead the way to the restaurant.

Maybe they'd get a free meal if they play their cards right.

* * *

The food in the restaurant was as good as she remembered, thought Aela as she and Perkins made their way back to Perkins's ship, safely stored by the Nalia. It was a rather lengthy trip, but flying it from there to the docking bay where Captain Talia was should only take a few minutes.

"I've got to say that I have some reservations about our transportation to Thessia." Perkins commented.

"Oh?'

"I gather that she's… a little boisterous, with little to nothing to back up her claims." he responded hesitantly, while he continued to walk in that crisp military manner of his.

"You overheard that too, huh?" Aela asked. "Truth be told, I just couldn't say no to the rates she offered. They were very affordable and certainly a lot cheaper than anything I expected."

"Still, I'm going to be sleeping with my service pistol on hand. Just in case." he said cautiously.

"Whatever makes you feel comfortable." Aela said as they arrived at his ship. Perkins quickly opened the hatch into the ship and made his way into the pilot's seat while Aela settled onto hers.

"So," Aela said as Perkins performed his system check. "What do you think of Talia?"

"She's quite a shady character if you ask me, but I defer to you as the local here." Perkins said cautiously. "Other than that, she seems a little over-eager, like something you'd see out of someone too green to have seen actual combat".

"I know that. I meant when she made her comments about your… looks"

"Oh. That." Perkins said, letting a little bit of silence hand in the air as he steadily started the ship up. "to be honest I've never encountered someone who is so… open with her attraction with me, let alone one as… different as Captain Talia."

"So awkward then?"

"Could be worse." Perkins said as he shrugged, and gently directed the ship to the docking bay where they were to meet Talia. "She thinks we're a couple."

"Which we're not. Strictly professional." Aela said. It was true. She had no interest at all in starting anything now, or ever with Perkins. Handsome as he was, it probably wasn't wise to date someone who was essentially a free agent.

"I intend to keep it that way, Aela." Perkins commented as he began the landing sequence. "Come on. Let's go meet the illustrious crew of our home for the next few days."

They both exited the Crusader to be greeted by the energetic young Captain with her unusually cheery smile. "Glad to see you both here on time. Interesting ship you've got here too, Mr. Perkins."

"She's a right beaut ain't she?" Perkins said a little longingly.

"Ooh, you've some stories to tell about this old gal, eh?" Talia said. "Come come, I'd love to hear all about it, after you two meet my very small crew."

Talia soon led them to the docking port of her freighter. Standing there peacefully by the entrance was, strangely enough, a quarian and batarian.

"Mr. Perkins, Dr. D'Avo, I'd like you to meet my crew," Talia said proudly. "This here is Korvan, finest navigator to come out of the Khar'shan Navigation Academy."

"Good to meet you... human, Doctor," Lorvan said as he looked Perkins in the eye. Perkins just smiled and never lost his composure as he greeted back.

"And of course, I'm lucky to have this wonderful young lady, Lia'Nel nar Rayya, as our engineer."

"Please, call me Lia," the quarian, Lia, said as she bowed slightly.

"And welcome aboard my ship, the Siri." he said as she dramatically pointed her arms towards the, admittedly large, freighter.

Aela could already tell that this would be an interesting trip.

* * *

_This is the Colony News Service, bringing to you the latest in news in the Sirius sector._

**Envoys to the Citadel**: Curacao, Cortez System - The Curacao Convention has concluded with House Representatives leaving with excellent results. "We are walking forward together as friends and fellow humans, into a bigger Galaxy." King Alexander stated in his closing speech to assembled reporters. Among members to visit Citadel Space soon are Hauptmann Manfred Mokte of Rhineland, Matthew Perry of Liberty and Princess Yvette of Bretonnia. Kusari will send their own envoys later after "sufficient screening" stated Lord Oda before leaving for New Tokyo.

**New Visitors?**: Curacao, Cortez System - With the end of the Curacao Convention, expect new trade and alien visitors to arrive soon. Citadel Representative Matriarch Benezia wished the best for both Humanity and the Citadel with opening of limited Trade within the Sirius sector. Be advised of the following items which are considered illegal when selling to any Citadel trader: Light Arms (without license), Heavy Arms, Gate and Trade Lane parts, Cardamine, and Police to Military grade weaponry. Be advised that the list is prone to any amendments by future agreements with Citadel space, and possibly individual House laws. Stay tuned to learn of any updates to the list.


	24. Chapter 24

Aboard the Quick Capital  
East Leeds Smog Cloud  
Leeds System

Right now, all Decimus wanted to do was punch that useless rotund methane breather of a captain of his for getting the crew into this mess. Having finally arrived in human space, their captain, Doran Vor, had greedily decided to have the ship go through conventional FTL and bypass the trade lanes to reach the New London jump gate, despite all warnings by Bretonnian authorities not to due to navigational hazards.

Well, they were stuck in the middle of one now for sure. They hit the massive smog cloud on the way to the jump gate and quickly got lost in it. It was worse than a damn nebula, at least radiation wasn't a problem they had to deal with there. All because Doran wanted to save some time. The worst part was that as navigator, it was now his job to try and find a way out of this mess.

Honestly though, he was hoping for a police patrol to stumble by and lead them out. It was kind of their best bet right now, seeing as their sensors could barely read anything in the Spirits damned smog.

"Decimus, have you find us a way out of here?" Doran wheezed again, for what had to be the hundredth time.

"No sir." Decimus replied, his anger at his superior only barely contained. "I think we may have entered a pocket of rather intense radiation. It's blocking a lot more of our sensors, and our range is rather limited with them. I would also advise against moving forward any further. From the looks of things, the radiation only gets worse the more we travel into it, and it could actually be enough to cook us inside the ship."

'"So you are saying our best hope is to deploy our distress beacon and hope for the best?" Doran asked.

"Yes sir. While the Bretonnians wouldn't recognize it, any other Citadel ships would, and would hopefully inform the authorities." Decimus said. What was left unsaid though was if the beacon could even be picked up from this deep in the smog. He could only pray to the Spirits that it could.

It was a grueling half hour after deploying the beacon before Decimus started to pick up some contacts on his sensors. "We have contact, sir!" he exclaimed excitedly. At least now he knew that he wasn't going to die in here with that wretched captain of his. He didn't care if he was going to be stuck on new London, he was going to take all the dextro food he could and wait for the next Citadel ship to stop by and hitch a ride on it.

"Open channels" Doran ordered. "I shall convey my thanks to them myself." the comm officer quickly complied, and Dorlan took a deep breath, likely trying to sound more authoritative than he actually was.

"Greetings Sirius clan. I am Doran Vor, and we thank you for responding to our distress signal." he said, more humble than Decimus has ever seen him. Likely this was the voice he reserved for his clients.

"I'm getting no response from them, captain," the comm officer replied. "Maybe they didn't get the message?"

"Well, try again." he ordered. "Greetings Sirius clan. I am Doran Vor and my crew and I thank you for responding to our distress signal." he said again.

"I'm picking something up. Translating." the comm officer said again.

"Received, Captain Doran. We're making our way there." said the contacts.

"Captain, reading four contacts coming in fast." Decimus reported. They finally hit sensor range at least.

"Good." Doran replied.

"Captain, something's not right." Decimus reported after he could make out the vaguely avian shape of the incoming ships. "Those don't look like Bretonnian vessels."

"What?" Doran said incredulously. "I mean, so what? So long as they help us get out of here, I don't care."

"But they might be-" Decimus tried to say, at least until a brief weapons fire barely grazed the hull, triggering alarms throughout the ship.

"Cut your engines, Captain." the leader of the patrol said. "And prepare to be boarded. Resist, and we'll end you."

"Understood." Doran immediately complied.

"Captain, I'm reading two of them making their way to the ship. Orders?" Decimus asked.

"We comply, Decimus. This isn't the first time I've been robbed. Better to surrender and let them take what they want." Doran replied calmly.

"But sir, only two of them are coming aboard from the looks of things. We can take them on." Decimus replied confidently.

"And then we get destroyed by those two other ships, and if we don't we die in the smog. Better to comply, Decimus. Better to comply and live to make another profit another day." Doran replied, a lot more calmly than Decimus would have ever pegged the volus.

"All right sir." Decimus replied in resignation.

Soon enough, Decimus read that the two contacts were now right by the two airlocks of the ship.

"Captain Doran, unlock your airlocks." the leader of the pirate patrol ordered.

"We are complying." Doran said as he pressed a few buttons on his console.

Soon, two humans entered, each brandishing a rifle.

"Señor, we have the ship. Crew is compliant." said one of them with some sort of cybernetic device where his right eye would be.

"Which of you is Captain Doran?" asked the other, taller one.

"I am, Sirius clan." Doran said, waddling forward. "The cargo bay is down there. Take what you want."

"You will follow our ships and make no sort of communication whatsoever. Any of you leave our sight, we blast you." the taller one said.

"Spirits, this isn't a robbery, it's a hijacking," Decimus muttered to himself as he slowly got the ship to follow the two pirate ships to Spirits only knew where, deeper into the smog cloud.

* * *

_Neural Net Update_

_Thessia_  
_Controlled by: Asari Republics_  
_System: Parinthia_  
_Radius: 5,940 km_  
_Orbital Distance: 0.94 AU_  
_Orbital Period: 0.9 years_  
_Terrain: Terrestrial_  
_Temperature: 25C_  
_Surface Gravity: 1.1 g_  
_Mass: 0.947 Earth Masses_  
_Population: 5.5 Billion_

_Ships for sale: Compiling_  
_Commodities For Sale: Eezo (restricted), Luxury Food, Entertainment Media, Alcohol_  
_Commodities Buying: Consumer Goods, Luxury Goods, Gold, Silver, Niobium_  
_Weapons for Sale: Compiling_

_The asari homeworld, Thessia, is the heart of the largest economy in the galaxy. The planet's eezo reserves are so vast, they affect its price across the galaxy. Names for the planet range from "the crown jewel of the galaxy", to "the beating heart of galactic love". Thessia is uniquely home to a wide variety of republics instead of a single government, and has long been free of external or internal wars._

* * *

Athena Nebula Mass Relay  
Parinthia System

"That was rather uneventful." Perkins commented as they completed their transition into the Parinthia system, home to Thessia.

"Were you expecting something, Perkins?" Aela commented.

"Pirates for one thing. Attempts to steal my ship for another." Perkins replied in a rather nonchalant tone. "I mean, the list is certainly longer than that, but those are the two rather large ones I really expected to happen in one form or another."

"We're in the middle of civilized space, Perkins. Neither of those are going to be happening anytime soon." Aela commented. "Though, as I continue to review my report to the University, I think they'll end up sending us to Ilium to chat with my friend regarding what I learned back on New London, about the Dom'Kavash."

"Not that I wouldn't mind seeing more of your handsome face around," Talia purred. "I'll be picking up some eezo here anyways, so if both of you need a ride to Ilium after whatever business you've got at the University of Serrice, then I'd be happy to take you."

"Thank you," Aela aid, genuine thanks in her voice. Though the whole flirting with Perkins thing was was still very awkward for her. Perkins still didn't seem to mind, though.

"I'm going to go check on my ship. Make sure she's all ready for flying in atmo." Perkins said as he left for the cargo bay.

"And I'll go help him out. I'd love to hear more stories from the Sirius sector." Talia said, following Perkins.

"Is she always like that?" Aela asked the engineer, Lia, taking advantage of the absence of Talia.

"For as long as I've been a member of her crew, yes." she said a little exasperated. "Though I've never seen her dedicate this much attention to one person though. This one might be serious."

"What happens if Perkins will finally acknowledge her?" Aela asked.

"I dunno." Lia responded. "I don't normally mess with the affairs of my Captain, though I imagine it'll end with a really really long session in her bedroom. Or Captain's chair. Or engine room. Actually, I imagine she might kick us all out of the ship for a while."

\  
"So!" Aela said, trying to change the topic. "Thoughts on Perkins' Crusader huh,? I'm sure you've taken a look at it. Maybe even scanned it a bit, too."

"It's absolutely wonderful!" she said animatedly, probably because this triggered into her love for engineering. "It manages to compress a very efficient fusion reactor into such a small package, and its engines manage to achieve some very interesting results too without making use of anti-matter or mass effect fields. And it all runs on the same fuel composition we make use of, which makes sense as the H-Fuel is a relatively stable and common fuel source. Not to mention the weapons on it. I can't even begin to understand what's going on in them. Though what I'm most interested in is the hull composition. If we could take that and combine it with increased density through mass effect folding, I think we could create hulls stronger than anything before! This might be enough to give back to the Fleet!"

"Congratulations." Aela replied. Honestly, she kinda glazed over the explanation a bit. She had already heard all that before. "I'm sure the Fleet would love to see something that will win Rannoch back."

"Thank you." Lia said happily. "Though, I must still pass my condolences to you. I understand what it's like having a man snatched away from me…" she sighed.

"I keep telling you all, it isn't like that." Aela exasperatedly exclaimed. "We're just employer and employee. He guards, I dig. That's it. He's loaded, he just wants the adventure of seeing things he's never seen before."

"I'm sure." Lia said in annoyingly sympathetic tone. "Well, we'll be at Thessia soon. I expect we'll be docked here for a while, as our Captain processes her eezo export papers for Ilium."

"If we're headed there, I'll be sure to tell you guys." Aela said. "It's my gateway to the Terminus systems, and chances are, my next dig will be there anyways."

"And if all else fails, it was nice meeting you Dr. D'Avo." Lia said extending her arm.

"Please Lia, call me Aela." she replied shaking her hand. It was good that she found a friend aboard the ship.

* * *

Serrice Spaceport  
Thessia

If Aela was honest with herself, she was only slightly smug as they entered atmo and she saw Perkins' face visibly smile in awe of the city of Serrice. Designed in the very best of asari style, with chrome towers that gracefully soared to touch the crystal clear blue sky interspersed with well tended gardens that hosted plants from all over the planet, Aela was personally very proud of her home city and how it seemed to capture what she thought was the best of asari architecture and planning.

"Now that's a sight," Perkin breathed out as the ship descended into the spaceport. "Nothing at all like New London."

"You mean the fact that we have some actual decent weather?" Aela replied.

"Haha. You know New London does have days with good weather too, " Perkins snarked back.

"What, once a year of just cloud and no rain?"

"...Maybe."

Aela just laughed at that, pleased with her triumph over Perkins, just in time to feel the gentle bump of the ship landing on the spaceport.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Thessia, home of the most beautiful women in the galaxy, and largest source of eezo. " Talia announced over the intercom. "Thank you for flying AirTalia, and I do hope you fly with us again."

"Come on, I'll show you the way to the University." Aela said as she led Perkins to the ship's exit.

"What about the Crusader?" Perkins asked.

"I'm sure that we can leave it here in the very capable hands of Captain Talia for a few hours. They'll be busy here handling eezo negotiations with the customs officers, which gives us time to go to the University to check on my own project." Aela replied as they arrived at the airlock.

After a brief moment in the decontamination chamber, Aela found herself on Thessian soil once more, while she found Perkins just standing still in the airlock.

"Come on," she said a little annoyed. "What are you waiting for?"

"Savoring the moment, dear," Perkins said in that annoyingly Bretonnian tone of his. "With a occasion as momentous as this, me being the first man to set foot on truly alien soil surrounded by a completely foreign culture, I've got to savor it," he said after taking a rather theatrical deep breath.

Aela just grumbled a bit and let Perkins practically preen himself over the situation. Honestly, sometimes she thought he just did this to annoy her.

"Welp, enough of that," Perkins said suddenly. "Let's go."

Aela just sighed as she led Perkins towards the nearest fast transit station. Goddess, she hoped that at the very least her dig went well enough without her.

* * *

The University of Serrice was considered by many to be one of the best Universities, not only on Thessia, but within the entirety of Citadel space. Having several millennia's worth of tradition helped, but they were also host to some of the CItadel's finest minds, from all walks of life. It was not uncommon to find a professor from another race here in a permanent teaching position, imparting some of the finest points of their specialties into the next generation who would shape the galaxy.

It was Aela's home as much as anything, and would always be something she would keep in a special place in her heart. Just seeing the familiar university grounds as they approached via aircar released a feeling of homeliness in her heart

Perkins whistled at the sight. "Rather posh looking, isn't it?"

"I think you're just associating all the chrome and gardens with 'posh', Perkins." Aela responded. "We have a rather extensive scholarship program that any and all Citadel races do participate in."

"I'm just saying, I'm getting a very Cambridge feeling from this place." he replied back as they landed.

"Come on, let's go before classes are dismissed and you become the number one crowd attraction here." Aela said.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Perkins said, once again living whatever his imagination had in mind.

Aela just gave him as harsh a stare she could manage, and it thankfully mollified him enough to follow her into the main faculty building. That was something she definitely had to do more often.

Aela just knew the moment she entered the Archaeology department that her colleagues would immediately flock to either her or Perkins, and ask all sorts of questions.

What she didn't expect was the rather large number of assistants and students in the faculty room, as they all quickly dropped what they had and crowded around him, excitedly interrogating him for any scraps of knowledge about humans.

Perkins naturally managed to calm them down enough to get them to ask their questions one at a time, instead of all at once.

Aela just let him be for a while. He could handle things while she went and talked to her good friend, Dr. Faen Coralis.

"Aela!" Faen greeted happily. "It's good to see you. How are you? How was meeting the humans?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Aela responded kindly. "And the humans were… interesting, to say the least."

"Like that human outside the door, then?" Faen replied. "He looks like he's answering the questions of the students in good spirits."

"I'm convinced that it is a matter of Bretonnian pride that nothing should faze them," Aela replied. "No matter how unusual a situation, they will probably face it with a smile and a wave."

"So a cultural thing?" Faen asked.

"Yes, like how the Turians tend to be martially focused." Aela replied.

"I wonder what it was that shaped their culture to be like that?" Faen mused to herself out loud. "But that can come later, come in, have a seat," she said, offering up her hospitality to Aela. "What can I do for you? Especially after your long absence from here, I'm sure you have many questions."

"Thank you," Aela said after taking a seat. "How went the results of my dig with the others?"

"Nothing too groundbreaking, though we did indeed find some new glyphs in that pot you found. We're still working on figuring out what exactly it means, but we suspect that it involves destruction of some sort, though Goddess knows why," Faen replied. "Other than that though, your team found a good number of well-preserved artifacts, but nothing particularly noteworthy."

"Oh." Damn. She was sure they would've found something particularly interesting there that time.

"I'm sorry, I know you were hoping for something big, but… well, you know how it goes." Faen said apologetically.

"It's all right. Though, I do have another question." Aela asked, a little resigned at what fate handed her regarding her earlier dig. "Do you know where Dr. T'Vedri is?"

"Last I heard, she was on Ilium trying to get some corp to sponsor her next expedition for her next dig for those really ancient crystals she found." Faen replied. "Why? I mean personally, while ancient, those crystals and whoever made them aren't anything particularly special. They just look like a very well preserved bronze age culture that somehow died off and was preserved by some fluke."

"Take a look at this." Ala said as she uploaded her own scans of what she found in the Bretonnian Museum. "I found them while being toured around the Sirius sector."

"Hmm, very interesting. Deeper scans, show crystal matrix structures? These were data storage devices of some sort?" Faen asked, her eyebrows scrunched up.

"From what the humans tell me, yes, though they've never figured out how to read them." Aela replied.

"So the creators of these crystals were spacefaring?" Faen asked in response.

"Yes. It's amazing isn't it?" Aela responded. "I have to find her and get her opinion on this. If we could find whatever the equivalent of a beacon these… Dom'Kavash had, imagine the sort of advances the galactic community could glean from them."

"Right. You should make for Ilium then and join Dr. T'Vedri in trying to get a sponsor. The university board isn't the most generous group around right now."

"I understand." Aela replied. The university can be rather stringy at times, and even with something as potentially groundbreaking as this, it might be best to go for private sources of funding.

"Well Faen, I should go rescue Perkins over there from the hoard of students asking him all sorts of silly questions."

"You go do that, Aela. Good luck!" Faen said after giggling a bit to herself.

She wasn't too sure what Faen found funny, but just attributed it to her general bubbly attitude as she left Faen's office to find Perkins still answering questions.

"How does anyone even live on Leeds?" one of the students asked, a little bit of horror in her voice.

"A lot of them say it could be worse. Having not had the pleasure of living there, I fail to see how it could get worse, so I have no idea." he replied with is trademark smirk, which somehow got a few chuckles from the crowd.

"And that ladies was the last question I'll be answering. Take care, and I hope to have left you all with a good impression of humanity in general ." he said as he bowed out and left the faculty room, waiting for Aela to catch up.

"How was the interview?" Aela asked.

"Quite civil. I liked it honestly." Perkins replied.

"Well, we're headed to Ilium next, so we best inform Captain Talia of the plan." Aela responded.

"What about her processing those papers you mentioned?" Perkins asked.

"That should take a while, so we can stay here in my apartment in Serrice for the night," she responded. "From here, I think things will only get more interesting."


	25. Chapter 25

Aela was actually looking forward to staying in her apartment for the night. After checking with Captain Talia on the flight schedule, they were clear to leave with a load of eezo along with the Crusader in the morning, so she and Perkins set off for a nice relaxing period in her apartment. Just her, Perkins, a bottle of Serrice Ice brandy, and the couch.

Wait, that sounded a little bit wrong. Just her, Perkins, a bottle of Serrice Ice brandy, and the extranet connection to her screen. Much better

It was rather much to Perkins' visible surprise and Aela's amusement that when they arrived at her apartment, Perkins whistled at its appearance. It had a rather stunning view of the university, with its large window walls providing a beautiful overview of it. It also helped that it was all rather tastefully decorated in a style that Aela like to believe would remain immortally beautiful: gentle, subdued furnishings in simple, neutral colors.

"This seems a rather bit more expensive than what I imagine an academic would earn." Perkins said after a brief moment of tasteful silence by the door.

"You can save a lot if you live for a thousand years, Perkins." Aela replied smugly.

"Point. Where will I stay then?" Perkins asked as he hefted his rather small bag.

"You can sleep on the couch," Aela replied, pointing out said sofa.

"Right in front of the telly. Already I feel like I'm back in the good ol' days of the academy,"

"Well, I do own the apartment. The Bed should belong to me,"

"It's all right. I'll just content myself with watching the telly. Speaking of which… How do I turn it on?" Perkins asked.

"By the small table in front of you is a console. That's for the screen."

Perkins promptly turned it on to find what looked like a news channel on screen.

_"This is Calia T'Loni, of the Citadel Broadcasting Network, bringing to you the latest news from across the galaxy. Despite efforts by the Bretonnian Police Authority, there remains no sign of the cargo ship headed to New London. Reports say that despite warnings by the BPA, the ship proceeded to conventional FTL instead of making use of the Trade Lanes within the Leeds system. BPA authorities suspect that the ship ended up going through a particularly hazardous portion of the Leeds Smog clouds, and are now presumed lost. The BPA urges all ships to make use of the Trade Lanes, no matter the circumstances, as the navigational hazards of the system are incredibly dangerous. Citadel representatives have brooked no blame on Bretonnia for the incident, as the ship was warned before they entered FTL."_

Perkins turned around to Aela, his eyebrow raised as if asking a question. It was probably the obvious one.

"Yes, she's my sister," Aela answered. "She always has been the more talkative one."

"I can see the resemblance," Perkins replied as he turned back to the screen.

_"... and economists expect that proper integration of the Sirius Credit with the Citadel Credit is to be completed by tomorrow. Analysts expect that more formal large scale trading will begin tomorrow, once the integration is complete. Meanwhile, the Asari Republics are in negotiations with the Republic of Liberty regarding the construction of Jump Gates between the Tau 30 system and the Armstrong Nebula Mass Relay. Matriarch Benezia is expected to meet with President Wallace in three weeks on the Citadel during the opening Liberty embassy party to discuss terms. The Matriarch has confirmed her expectations that the agreement will benefit both parties."_

"And it looks like Liberty is talking with your people. I can only imagine what new hells Liberty can come up with," Perkins said.

"I know that the Sirius sector has had a history with Liberty, but honestly, I don't think they will be in too much of a position to argue." Aela countered. "Despite your advances in several fields, the Asari Republics holds the technological edge in Citadel space and I'm quite sure we have much Liberty is willing to trade secrets for."

"Then that just means your people will be hand in hand with Liberty, lordin' it over the rest of us technologically illiterate peasants in the dirt."

"It's not like that at all. The Asari Republics prides itself on the very basis of fairness. I'm sure that this can only lead to further proliferation of all sorts of useful technology for the benefit of all."

"If that happens, then I can go and claim myself as the next Emperor of Kusari," Perkins said deadpan. "Just one more reason to go and be a freelancer, find some place where they can't smother what we have."

"And I'm sure you're overreacting, Perkins."

"I may not live to see it Aela, but I guarantee it'll happen. Your millennia long lifespan almost guarantees you will see it. At least, pending any unforeseen circumstances."

"Like what?" Aela asked dubiously.

"Pirates, industrial accidents, vehicular accidents, navigational error, slavers, drug overdose, simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time…"

"I get it Perkins, but I'm relatively sure I can handle myself in those situations. I did live on Omega for a while."

"Omega?"

"Think a neutral ground for the criminal society of the Galaxy. A large portion of the people who live there are involved in a criminal enterprise in one form or another."

"A wretched hive of scum and villainy?" Perkins said with a smile a little too wide.

"... yes?"

That response just got Perkins roaring into laughter, though Aela failed to see what was so funny. Honestly, humans still confused her sometimes. Or maybe it was just Perkins.

* * *

"That" Pub

Trafalgar Base, New London system

For Jerry Maxwell, life as a Junker was good. It's an easy living picking up scrap from the many many junk fields scattered around the New London, then selling it to whoever was popping by. Whether it was some freelancer or a Corsair who wanted some old part for some reason, someone, somewhere wanted to buy something from a Junker.

He kind of hoped that some of those blue ladies would be visiting soon. God knows he could stand to see some more... attractive women in his life. Heck, he might also be able to charge them extra. Its not like they'd know the difference between a repairable part and something completely junked.

"Oi," hissed his partner Dean by the bar's viewing bay. It gave a great overview of the approach to the docking bay, letting anyone who was expecting someone to do their business properly. And on its way to Trafalgar was a definitely alien ship. All chrome and fat, likely a freighter, but definitely not a human ship. "Looks like one of 'em alien ships approaching us."

"You think it'll be one of them blue asari ladies?"

"I hope so. I know that the ladies here are a little.. feisty for my tastes."

"Too right, mate," chuckled Jerry, as they scrambled to the docking bay. Seeing as they ran the commodities bay of the station, it was always prudent to get to know your clients early, no matter who they were. Outcast or Corsair, Freelancer or some poor bobbie sent here to fish, all were welcome, so long as they had the credits and followed the rules.

Of course, Junkers gave no guarantee of not being caught by the cops due to a leaked bit every now and then, but that was an acceptable level of risk for many for the near universally accepted neutrality that Junker bases provided deep in House space.

It was thus to Jerry's pleasant surprise that upon arriving at the docking bay, he discovered that the ship did indeed carry at least one rather pretty specimen of asari kind. She strutted down that freighter of hers in her hardsuit like she owned the station, as if nothing but God himself could command her with a small group of rather feisty looking asari bodyguards.

Jerry figured the bullshit approach would not be wise. "Welcome to Trafalgar Base," he greeted as jovially as possible, signalling Dean to let him handle things. "I'm Jerry, and I run the commodities and equipment dealership here on Trafalgar. Is there anything I can help you with, Miss…"

"Captain, actually." she said in a firm voice. "Captain Enyala of the Eclipse. I'm looking for engine components, light arms, anything of yours that is high tech and makes or stops a big bang.

"I'll be honest Captain, that could be problematic. Not for us mind you, but for you." he said as he walked towards the main commodities bay, gesturing her to follow.

"You see," he said as they walked along. "You ladies did indeed come to the right location to acquire your less than legal commodities. You need anything bought or distributed, we're the right people to come to."

"Thing is, the bobbies, thats the name we use for 'em BPA blokes, have been stepping up patrols around the field. Normally, we have an arrangement with them, but with something this big, weapons that aren't exactly what we'd call 'civilian' grade, they'll be scanning everyone and everything that goes anywhere near a jump gate, along with the BAF. There is no way you'll be able to bypass that."

"We'll settle for barely legal then." Enyala answered promptly. Good that she understood the risks.

"Then I have just the things for you." he said as he cheerily led them to one particular area. "I must also warn you of the… policies aboard the station. No killing anyone. You're all guests aboard here. And all purchases are final. Period. If you're unhappy with someone or a business arrangement, then tough luck on you, take it out of the station."

"I'm not really in a position to negotiate here," she said, her hostility just barely felt by Jerry. Still nothing overtly hostile on her part, so he figured it still safe to lead her into the his own little kingdom.

To the untrained eye, it would've been best described a random junk. Parts from what looked like all sorts of ships were littered here and there, but to a Junker, these were all the things worth saving and not immediately smelting down to be turned to metal.

"I've here some parts that a lot of locals of… questionable authority make use of to make their Mules and Wolfhounds. Lots of old civilian grade weapons found off wrecks that we got to, and you'd be surprised at the sheer number of them. Even have a few shields that didn't blow up with their ships."

"We'll take them." she said tersely. Talk about a cold fish.

"Interested in anything else? Construction Machinery? Latest models from Leeds, guaranteed to last you a good 30 years. You want some Molly Gold? We're a regular stop for them, and we offer rates I don't think you'll find beyond the Dublin system. General supplies? We have a little bit of everything here."

"We'll take a resupply. We're low on food, and it'll be interesting to see what human rations taste like."

"It's shit, but its nourishing," Jerry answered dryly. "But we have some real food in the bar. Why don't you ladies come and enjoy some Junker hospitality and introduce you to the other… visitors we have. I'm sure business can only be improved with new friends."

"Let's," said Enyala, her icy tone lightening up a bit.

The sound of more credits being made was bound to warm up the chilliest ice queen, thought Jerry. Maybe if he's lucky, he'll end up in her bed with those bodyguards of hers. A man can dream after all.

* * *

Waking up in her own bed for the first time in what felt like years certainly did wonders for Aela. She felt like she could take on the world. It rather made her feel a little guilty having Perkins sleep on the couch, but she wasn't going to be sharing a bed with him. She wanted to maintain at least some form of employer-employee barrier.

Though… if she could use it to mess with Talia, that might be worth a little teasing. She'd have to get Perkins in on it of course, to make it look convincing but it could work.

Still, seeing that according to her clock it was rather early in the morning, she got up out of bed to get ready for her undoubtedly long trip away from her home again. Grabbing her large travel pack reserved for long term trips, she proceeded to pack her usual dig gear. Her shield and Elkoss combine pistol were the first in. While she may have been capable of putting up a barrier, having a shield never hurt as an extra layer of protection. She figured Perkins' own gun was better than hers too, but still. Better safe than sorry. Her various tools and dig outfits were up next, and finally, she carefully packed in an elegantly simple white dress, reserved for the inevitable begging for funding from various sponsors.

It was while packing her dress that she realized that she had no food for any visiting aliens. Thessian food had a considerably higher than safe level of eezo for non-biotics in them, and she hadn't informed Perkins of that. Deciding to rectify that mistake, she moved out of her room to find Perkins already up and about eating from a tube.

"Good morning," he greeted as he stopped eating. "I see you've finally woken up."

"It's barely sunrise, and you're saying I woke up late?"

"I may have left the Armed Forces, but they haven't left me yet." he said after a brief chuckle. "Care for some SynthPaste? It's a lot better than it looks I assure you. I was about to sample some of your goods in the cupboard, but I wasn't exactly sure if it would be safe for me to eat. I mean, just because you can eat what I can eat doesn't mean I can eat what you can, right?"

Aela just sighed a little in relief after learning that. It wouldn't do for Perkins to get eezo poisoning. If it was anything like what happened with other species, it was a nasty way to go. Though…

"SynthPaste? As in the company?" she asked

"Yeah. Totally edible and tasty food. Great for rations, as they have all the necessary nutrients, and don't actually taste like shit." Perkins exclaimed. "I'm almost sure you had some before back in the Sirius sector. You did, right?"

"Sorry, I don't think I did," she replied. "Anything exotic about it? Artificial flavoring, colouring and all that?"

"Not really. It's just ground up genetically modified kelp that SynthPaste somehow manages to change flavors without modifying the kelp strain or add any chemicals. I'm pretty sure it's safer than a lot of things you've had in the Sirius sector. It's certainly safer than Liberty ale."

"If you say so…" she said as she very hesitantly grabbed the tube of paste and carefully squeezed a pea sized morsel on her finger. She then very gently brought the dab into her mouth.

"Sausage?" she exclaimed after taking another larger sample to be sure.

"You can hardly taste the difference, yeah?" Perkin said a he grabbed another tube from his pack. "You can have that one by the way."

"Amazing." Aela said after slowly letting this batch settle on her tongue for awhile. "How do they do it?

"Like I said, I dunno, but whatever they're doing, God I hope they continue. It's a lot better than my usual rations. They have thousands of flavors from the most exotic to the most bland, and near everyone loves it. I can't imagine it not doing well."

Aela mulled over this. If it was this good, then SynthPaste was going to quickly make a killing in Citadel space. She quickly bought up her OmniTool, and after doing quick check on her accounts, let herself have a rather predatory grin.

"That smile of yours could be good or bad. I'm not sure which." Perkins commented.

"It just occured to me that, well. If SynthPaste can arrange itself a wide variety of flavors now, what more when they start mimicking others?"

"I'm not sure I follow."

"At first it'll be human tastes, but eventually, they'll be capturing Asari tastes, Batarian spices, all of it in one convenient package for travel between planets."

"...Then they'll really start to make a killing." Perkins breathed out. "I'd best be buying stock then while it's low. I mean, creds are good and all, but if I'm not under a steady salary, it pays to have a little bit tucked away for a rainy day, right?"

"Perkins, when you've lived as long as I have, you learn a trick or two." Aela said with a neat smile as she had her brokering program prepare to purchase a lot of SynthPaste shares. If she was lucky, maybe she'll be able to fund her own expeditions with this particular little bit of wisdom from the humans.

The rest of the morning was spent just watching the various programs available on the screen, though nothing in particular really grabbed Perkins attention outside the news, though to be fair, it was rather early in the morning. By noon, they got a message from Talia that things were good to go on their end, and expected them to meet her within the hour. Aela naturally grabbed her things and led the way to the nearest fast transit point.

"Are you excited?" Aela asked Perkins, as they flew through the city in the aircar.

"For what?" Perkins replied, taking his eyes off the view of the city.

"For seeing another new planet, I mean."

"It's a yes and no kind of thing," he admitted after a while. "On one hand, it's another brand new planet, and from the way you describe it, it sounds like a virtual melting pot of cultures. On the other, I've had hardly a day to even get a feel for this planet. It's hardly enough time to even begin to get a sense for it."

"Sense?"

"You know, every place has a flavor to it. A kind of something that distinguishes its people rom everything else. Even stations have that kind of culture to an extent."

"Take New London, center of Bretonnian culture. Most everyone there works a government job and the people tend to think very linearly. Very focused on their procedures and all that bureaucracy stands for. Cambridge on the other hand is full of hopefuls, its people tend to be quite idealistic and always seek to learn more about the universe and all that. Manhattan is corp and rich central. I mean, of course there are exceptions to every rule, but… you just get this feel for each planet and city the more you interact with it."

"I think I understand." Aela said after a brief silence. "Like how the Citadel has its highs and lows, the gleam of the Presidium and the neon lights of the Wards, Serrice's University, and the Temple of Athame, all of them have an… atmosphere about them."

"Yeah, and it's something I really look forward to seeing more of." Perkins aid with a certain amount of.. wistfulness to him.

"Well, I guess as a Freelancer with a galaxy to explore, that won't be anything near as much as a problem for you huh?"

"Right." he said, his normally cheeky tone returning. "Let's go."

"I'm glad you two could make it." Talia said the moment they arrived at the ship. "I figured you would be far too busy in whatever room you two managed to squirrel yourselves away in."

"Nothing like that happened. At all," Aela said quickly. "I prefer things to be professional between me and Perkins."

"Employer employee relationships are always bad in my experience." Perkins helpfully supplied.

"Good. That means I can have you all to myself, hon." Talia said as she slid up to Perkins' side. "I can show you all sorts of things we asari are famous for."

Aela just shook her head, noting that Korvan and Lia were both doing so as well. Aela silently hoped for something to happen to bring Talia to some sort of seriousness. Like pirates for instance.

A woman could dream after all. It was probably a horrible thing to wish for, but she had a feeling that it would definitely be preferable to what she figured was coming.


End file.
